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

RECORDING OF THE MONTH- May 2012: FAUST by GOUNOD

It is high time for me to spice this blog up with a little French flair. As my life is full of French music at the moment, I could think of no better time than the present. I assumed I would review Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Offenbach, primarily because everyone in my daily interactions right now thinks so highly of the work that it is one of the most frequent topics of discussion, but honestly I am just not all that familiar with the work. I don't know it well enough to speak with ANY kind of authority on the subject. Something I plan on remedying in the not too distant future.

However a French opera I do know pretty well is Faust by Charles Gounod. Now, to start, I have to say that to literary gurus, this libretto dashes Goethe's Faust to pieces. It mutilates and perverts Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's original intent until it becomes a work unto itself with only a slight resemblance of the brilliant work that it comes from… BUT… it truly is a wonderful old school French opera. Nobody wrote melodies like Gounod and this score is riddled with them. I assumed from the get go that I would review the somewhat legendary 1959 EMI set conducted by André Cluytens with Nicolai Gedda, Victoria de los Angeles, Boris Christoff, Ernest Blanc, Rita Gorr etc. but as much of a benchmark as it is, it leaves me feeling somewhat ambivalent. So instead, I have chosen the 1994 Teldec recording conducted by Carlo Rizzi:

Faust - Jerry Hadley
Méphistofélès - Samuel Ramey
Marguerite - Cecilia Gasdia
Valentin - Alexandru Agache
Siébel - Susanne Mentzer
Marthe Schwerlein - Brigitte Fassbaender
and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra & Chorus

This truly is a great recording. I was skeptical at first. For some reason I had a hard time trusting the French style to an Italian conducting Welsh people… I was wrong. This performance, while not entirely traditional, is absolutely stylistically spot on.

First of all, one would assume that the only real reason to buy this recording would be for the Devil of Samuel Ramey. Truly one of the great roles of his career. He sings Méphistofélès here in prime voice. To young male singers (especially the lower voiced singers) Samuel Ramey has attained a near Godly reputation. All of us at some level consider him somewhat of a "God walking amongst mere mortals"… or perhaps a demon as the case may be… He sings this role with excellent French. He manipulates and deceives throughout the opera with hints of the subtlety of Journet and Plançon, and balances that with some of that Chaliapin slavic school of snarl that is so pervasive in Boris Christoff's interpretation of this role... every role he sang actually. It works for Ramfis (Aida) and Boris, and here to some extent, but not so much in roles like Padre Guardiano (Forza) or Silva (Ernani). And neither of them have the suave subtlety of Cesare Siepi. But while Ramey does in fact do an excellent and noteworthy job, much to my chagrin, he is not ultimatley the draw of the recording. Ramey is a wonderful sounding Méphistofélès but when push comes to shove, he is somewhat boring. The role has so much potential to "play" and he just doesn't take advantage of it. He is great on the disc but compared to some of his less respected colleagues on this set he doesn't quite deliver as expected.

The late Jerry Hadley really comes through with his idiomatic performance of the desperate and tortured Doctor Faust. He sings the opening scene with such beautiful melancholy that we almost forget what a slow start it gives the opera. The rest of the role is sung par excellence with a legato and musical continuity that one just does not hear in his Italian repertoire. He sings with such tenderness in moments like the love duet, and the climax of his aria, Salut, demeure chaste et pure, is sung with a true piano (as written by the composer). He makes this note, that most use to show off their powerful top C, a moment of introspection. He floats up to the C with a gentle ardency that stays much more in keeping with the line of the aria than most interpretations. His moments of passion are also much more committed than one would expect from such a lyric voice. Gedda, probably the most beloved Faust of his era, said himself that he didn't like the role of Faust. It is too one dimensional and not in keeping with Goethe's concept, so he never sang the role as much more than beautiful music. Jerry Hadley takes what he is given and brings it to life in a magical and honest way.

The relatively unknown Cecilia Gasdia of Verona delivers a performance as good or better than her wonderful aforementioned counterparts. Her voice is bright and glistening, and her characterization is impeccable. A young, vulnerable, spiritual girl with a blinding, innocent love for her "young" suitor, Faust. She does the Jewel Song in a way that seems genuinely delighted and fresh, as if we hadn't heard the aria 5,000 times. She almost succeeds even in the impossible task of giving life to Gounod's dull setting of  Il Était Un Roi De Thulé. One of the highlights of the whole opera is the last scene when her pleading for salvation is so impassioned one is easily swept away in her desperation. She gives a detailed character with equal commitment to de los Angeles's famed performance, but with admittedly more depth. Gasdia, remarkably, is able to bring Marguerite to the forefront of the drama through her committed interpretation, even if Gounod chose not to.

The secondary characters are well cast too for the most part. Valentin is sung here by the Romanian baritone Alexandru Agache. His voice is not the most beautiful, but he sings an admirable soldier, even if it is often over-covered and occasionally a bit flat, but what he lacks in voice, he makes up for in truly great character interpretation. He is ardent and true and brings dimension to what is usually a bit of a cardboard stock character. This is best heard in his death scene, Ecoute-moi bien, Marguerite! Siébel is sung with light, silvery voice by Susanne Mentzer. She doesn't offer the role a whole lot in her approach, but she delivers an attractive and consistent performance. The novelty casting of THE Brigitte Fassbaender in the role of Marthe Schwerlein is a wonderful part of this recording, although it pales in comparison to the vanity casting of Rita Gorr in the Cluytens recording. However, since it isn't too much of a role to begin with, neither have much of an effect on the outcome of the set.

Lastly Carlo Rizzi really does deliver a wonderful reading. He takes quite a few unusual tempi, mostly incredibly slow (coming in at around 3:10, where the Cluytens comes in around 2:51). While I would not take most of these tempi so slow, I think it can definitely work. It is a grandiose and monumental opera and the slower tempi really emphasize that side of the work. The Welsh National Opera Chorus responds well to his baton, turning out some of the cleanest ensemble singing I have ever heard, and the orchestra rejoices and weeps along with the singers throughout the work. I really appreciate that, and while they did cut the ballet numbers, they still recorded them as an appendix.

Lastly, I would say that this recording really is a wonderful way to get to know this opera. The Cluytens is definitely more traditional, and the singing is some of the best you'll find on any recording of the opera. However for dimension, sensitivity, and passion I would recommend this recording above all the other usual options.

- Christopher Michael Kelley

PS. I actually would probably first and foremost recommend the live Met recording from the early 50s with Jussi Björling, Dorothy Kirsten, and Cesare Siepi, that is if you can handle some, er, not so perfect French diction… but that recording is nearly impossible to find these days. If you do find it… please let me know where. ;)