CPO continues to show
admirable enthusiasm for issuing the
works of Lehár. Der
Sterngucker (The Stargazer)
was issued in Spring 2003 and now along
comes this performance of his first
operetta. It is a recording of a large-scale
radio broadcast made 25 years ago.
The work was staged
as a Christmas piece at Vienna's Carl-Theater
in December 1902. Despite poor initial
reviews its strong cast managed to achieve
a long run for the piece. Incidentally,
the conductor of the première
was the young composer, Zemlinsky. Der
Rastelbinder travelled through Europe
and reached America in 1909, but now
is largely forgotten.
The plot concerns a
Slovak child engagement, with children
who find it difficult to get on together
when grown up. A Prelude is set 12 years
earlier than the main action to provide
a vehicle for the audience to be given
background information of the childhood
betrothal. The Prelude and Acts shift
the action from Slovakia to Vienna and
then to a Viennese army barracks. The
settings allow Lehár plenty of
scope to introduce different flavours
of music appropriate to the action.
In this early operetta, we hear, for
the first time, a slow waltz that indicates
the distinctive viennese style that
was to follow and become a Lehár
hallmark, 'Wenn zwei sich lieben'
[CD2 tk.4]
Helga Papouschek and
Elfie Hobarth sing confidently as Mizzi
and Suza and the young tinker boy (uncredited)
provides a purity of tone, naïvety
and innocence. Both Heinz Zednik (the
grown up tinker boy) and Adolph Dallapozza
(corporal) are strong tenors, the latter
having a particularly high register.
But to me this is a performance that
needed to be seen to be fully appreciated.
The unmusical Pfefferkorn (Fritz Muliar)
performs more like a Maurice Chevalier
and does not come over well in his numbers
on the second CD: it becomes an irritation
when one can only focus on an aural
picture.
The recording has good
acoustics and balance, though chorus
diction could be better.
The booklet is provided
in German, English and French and contains
interesting background notes by Stefan
Frey as well as a synopsis for the vocal
numbers.
Raymond J Walker
ORF Choir and Vienna Mozart Boys Choir 
