Wednesday, May 1, 2013

RECORDING OF THE MONTH- May 2013: DIE FLEDERMAUS by STRAUß II

Something that often gets overlooked by musical connoisseurs and afficionados is the genre of Operetta. Operetta, while many claim it began with Offenbach in Paris, and many in the U.S. and the United Kingdom first think of Gilbert and Sullivan... to me, Operetta IS Vienna. Operetta is Johann Strauß II and Franz Lehár and Emmerich Kálmán and Carl Zeller etc. Viennese Operetta has always held a very special place in my heart just as Vienna does and for that matter, Austria. Particularly when the Summer months roll around and I find myself lost in thoughts and memories of my time spent in Austria, I become intoxicated with the elegant lilt of the Waltzes, Ländlers, and Polkas of Viennese Operetta.

What Schubert did for the Lied, what Handel did for Oratorio, what Mozart did for Opera, Johann Strauß II did for Operetta. He brought the genre to life and shaped the way all others would compose in the genre henceforth. He did that with one pivotal work: Die Fledermaus.

The quality of Die Fledermaus is such that it is often referred to as an opera and held up against the German operas of Weber, Lortzing, and Nicolai. Its music is challenging and energetic, the drama is clean and witty and there isn't a misplaced note in this elegantly frivolous, sparkling score. Even so, the flavor of this piece in undeniably operetta.

While it was not entirely well received at its premier at Theater an der Wien in 1874, famous music critic Eduard Hanslick having called it "commonplace," it has become among the most popular of all musical theatre pieces and remains firmly in the repertoire even outside of Vienna.

There are few recordings that I truly respect out there of this work. It must always maintain its heritage. The Viennese style must always be in the forefront, not only in the conducting and orchestral playing, but in the singing and acting style as well.

I love the recording from 1950 conducted by Clemens Krauss with Julius Patzak, Hilde Güden, Alfred Poell, Anton Dermota, Wilma Lipp, Sieglinde Wagner et al. This recording is possibly in many ways the most stylistically accurate as every person involved in this recording is Austrian and most of them Viennese at that, but to most modern ears tends to sound dated.

Another great recording, and among my personal favourites, is the film version conducted by Karl Böhm and directed by Otto Schenk, starring Gundula Janowitz, Renate Holm, Erich Kunz and Eberhard Wächter.

In fact any recording with the young Eberhard Wächter as Eisenstein is golden, as he was the benchmark Eisenstein at the Staatsoper and the Volksoper in the years before he became the general manager of BOTH houses (Volksoper in 1987 and Staatsoper in 1991).

The 1975 recording is sung and conducted phenomenally (if a bit quick for my taste) by Carlos Kleiber with Hermann Prey as Eisenstein, Julia Varady as Rosalinde, Lucia Popp as Adele, Bernd Weikl as Falke. Aside from a very disturbing Orlofsky singing in his relatively undeveloped falsetto the whole time, it is quite good. Lucia Popp and Julia Varady are incredibly charming and Hermann Prey is as close to perfectly sung as it gets.

The document that I think best represents this work however, is the 1971 EMI recording conducted by Willi Boskovsky.

Gabriel von Eisenstein - Nicolai Gedda
Rosalinde - Anneliese Rothenberger
Adele - Renate Holm
Dr. Falke - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Prinz Orlofsky - Brigitte Fassbaender
Alfred - Adolf Dallapozza
Frank - Walter Berry
Ida - Senta Wengraf
Frosch - Otto Schenk
Dr. Blind - Jürgen Förster
Iwan - Gerd W. Dieberitz

Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Wiener Symphoniker
Dialogue directed by Otto Schenk

While I personally prefer Gabriel von Eisenstein to be sung by a baritone, if one MUST deal with a tenor, Nicolai Gedda is ideal. While the role is not particularly challenging for him vocally, he sings the role with stylish buffoonery and flows through the dialogue with a humorous finesse that displays Gedda's true adeptness with language. The man was fluent in seven of them after all.

Anneliese Rothenberger is a slightly lighter voiced soprano than is often cast as Rosalinde, however it is not hindering for her in the slightest, in fact due to the lighter voice, the highs which are often strident and even screechy at times, maintain a beauty and ease that is quite frankly a relief to the ears and only helps her portray the astute, savvy character of Rosalinde. Operetta was a major part of Rothenberger's career and her style here is perfect.

The relatively unknown Rente Holm was a major player in the Operetta scene in Vienna. She was in many operetta films such as Schön ist die Welt, Der Graf von Luxemburg, Der Vogelhändler, and the film version of Die Fledermaus. She brings an Austrian flare to this saucy Stubenmädchen with a clean, silvery tone. She is truly at home in this role that she practically owned during her time in Vienna.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is not the first name that comes to mind when thinking about operetta, but as Dr. Falke, he brings the usual erudite nuance and subtlety that he brought to everything he ever sang. His dialogue is smart and charming and when you have a singer of Fischer-Dieskau's calibre, it is a great joy to have the addition in act II of the rarely heard Strauß aria "Die ganze Nacht durchschwärmt,"  from his unknown Operetta, Waldmeister about the revelry of young men. His second act II solo, "Brüderlein" is sung with a grace and beauty that has most certainly never been heard on the piece before or since, but definitely challenged by Olaf Bär's wonderful reading of the role on the set with Dame Kiri and Andre Previn.

The Viennese Walter Berry brings his Wiener Gemütlichkeit to Prison Director Frank. Finding the perfect balance in this difficult comic role between singing and a sort of Buffo Sprechstimme. His scene in the opening of act III in strong Viennese dialect with the famous actor and director Otto Schenk as Frosch is entirely amusing and maintains a bit of subtlety in its comedy which is more than we can say for most productions in the US of this work.

Fassbaender as Orlofsky is wonderful as Fassbaender always is. Her Russian accent is spot on and her aria is sung with a great eccentricity and whimsy. Dallapozza is very funny as Alfred, inserting Wagner arias throughout. Alfred to my thinking, is probably the most amusing role in the opera when done right, and Adolf Dallapozza does it right, even if he could give it a bit more ridiculousness at times. Otto Schenk's directing of the dialogue is a great representation of how it should always sound with great distinction and nuance, even though the dialogue is greatly cut, it is better than the unacceptable readings that cut ALL the dialogue from the recording. This is a Viennese take on this work that rarely hits the mark outside of it native Vienna.

The real reason that this recording beats out all the others is the conductor. Willi Boskovsky is among the greatest Strauß conductors of all time. Having joined the Vienna Academy of Music at the age of 9 for the violin, he became concert master for the Wiener Philharmoniker from 1936 to 1979, and from 1955 he became the long standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert. He was, until his death in 1991, the chief conductor of the Wiener Johann Strauß Orchester, conducting in the Straußian style of the "Vorgeiger," which is directing the orchestra in front while playing the violin just as Strauß I and Strauß II did. His adroit conducting of this piece is exactly as it should be, from his credentials alone, one can tell that Willi has an ingrained flair for the Strauß idiom. He maintains a sophistication throughout, while never losing the moderate dance-like tempi. Never too fast. Never too slow. It conjures up the feeling of grand balls of the Viennese upper crust, stumbling about to waltzes and drowning themselves in champagne. It has moments of farcical comedy, and moments of true beauty - if still lacking any true depth in the most delightful way possible. This recording truly has a personality of its own, and even with the tasteful interpretation of the singers, it possesses an energy that is nearly unrivaled.

This is an unpretentious, yet amazingly stylish reading of this great work. If one is interested in learning about how Viennese Operetta should be done, this is the disc to start with. Perfection.

- Christopher Michael Kelley