These are old friends
and so is Eric Kunz. The mellifluous
and personable baritone graced many
an operatic set in the immediate post
War years and was as feted in Vienna
as he was admired at Glyndebourne, to
name just two. A look at the headnote
and associated conductors will tell
you that these Columbias are often extracted
from the sets made at the time. The
Busch led Così – a highlights
set in effect – is represented, as is
the Karajan Marriage of Figaro. The
Magic Flute extract here shouldn’t be
confused with the slightly later complete
recording with Karajan – instead these
are 1947 extracts on 78s led by Rudolf
Moralt. Likewise the Johann Strauss
– this isn’t the 1953 LP recording of
Der Zigeunerbaron conducted by Otto
Ackermann – it’s a 78 led by Anton Paulik,
an idiomatic conductor of the Wiener
Volksoper.
So that’s what this
disc is, or isn’t. It’s essentially
a selection of Kunz over a four-year
period with the added bonus of two wartime
broadcast examples of his Mozart and
Wagner preserved in superb sound. All
this in well documented form with issue
and matrix details intact (Biddulph,
please note). The aptly chosen discs
show Kunz’s greatest strengths in their
still youthful glory. His was a voice
of the most persuasive elegance. He
and the equally delightful Irmgard Seefried
show such character and style in their
Mozart whilst the baritone’s masculine
nobility, always held within proper
stylistic and vocal bounds, is warmth
personified in Tutto è disposto.
His Catalogue Aria is not too insinuating
and sneering; the approach is superior
and elevated and those wartime tapes,
where he’s joined by Rutgers in Mozart
and by Schöffler in Mastersingers,
are in spectacularly forward, if not
always ideally warm sound.
Character, charm and
that beautifully equalized and warm
baritone were all Kunz’s. That he was
a character-actor of distinction on
stage made him even more valuable. As
one hears in the Wagner – though he
did once or twice sing at Bayreuth –
his was not an especially powerful voice
but given his roles and musical instincts
it didn’t need to be. He essayed some
of the Italian repertoire but his forte
was Mozart and the Strauss and lighter
Viennese music contained in the second
half of this Preiser disc. The full
range and weight of that mellifluous
charm is brought to bear on Nur für
Natur and his sotto voce Komm
in die Gondel is equally gripping.
If you want to hear a piece of characterful
singing – big elongated vowels and nasal
wit - try Ja, das Schreiben und das
Lesen – and his Krakauer is simply
irresistible.
The originals are not
hard to find but the transfers have
done justice to them nevertheless. This
is in the main a Mozart and Johann Strauss
disc but there is such variety of timbre,
shading, expression and nuance in Kunz’s
singing that it could have lasted all
evening and I would still have wanted
more.
Jonathan Woolf