These are live broadcast
performances and the sound varies from the spacious to the congested;
from the very good to the passable. One is tempted to wonder
if any top note shrillness is down to the sound engineering
rather than the performers. Judging by the audience’s enthusiastic
reception I am inclined to suspect that in most cases it is
the former. Another grouse before getting down to cases: Naxos’s
notoriously perfunctory notes are particularly unhelpful on
this occasion: have Peter Dempsey’s usually excellent notes
been shrunk to accommodate the restrictions of a 12-page booklet
in English and French? Instead of so much space devoted to notes
on the life of Lehár that can be found on so many other albums,
would it not have been better to have more detail about the
lesser known works on this album, especially La danse des
libellules and Le Tsarévich? * The track listings
are perfunctory too; for instance Giuditta’s celebrated Act
IV aria sung in full here and with gusto by Anita Ammersfeld,
is usually identified as ‘Ich weiss es selber nicht… Meine Lippen,
sie küssen so heiss’. Interestingly with his final operetta,
Giuditta, Lehar approaches opera and moves towards Bizet
and Puccini – while Puccini had, in 1917, moved towards operetta
with his La Rondine. Incidentally I can recommend the
Rudolf Moralt 1958 Decca recording of Giuditta with Hilde
Gueden in the title role and Waldemar Kmentt as Octavio, and
Richard Traubner’s excellent book, Operetta – A Theatrical History
– Routledge - www.routledge-ny.com.
Staying with Giuditta,
it is in these excerpts that the cream of the singing on this
album is heard – that of Alain Vanzo as Octavio. Vanzo’s singing
is intensely and sincerely expressive. He is not afraid to insert
that little catch in his voice at precisely the right emotional
moment and unafraid to add a little rubato and portamenti. With
singing like this, there must have been so many misty eyes.
This glorious expressiveness
is the keynote of Adolphe Sibert and his ORTF players. Sibert
in fact had worked with some of the finest operetta composers
including Lehár, Kálmán and Robert Stolz. In 2003 the Académie
du Disque Lyrique posthumously awarded Adolphe Sibert (1899-1991)
a ‘Special Distinction’ for his recordings of Viennese Operetta.
Listening to the glitter and graceful lilt of these recordings
this distinction comes as no surprise. Siebert was also a distinguished
violinist and one wonders if it is his lyrical sweetness of
tone that distinguishes the many violin solos on this album.
Der Graf von
Luxemburg is the main work on the album with more than 25
minutes playing time. The favourite show-stoppers are included
and sung with style and feeling. The programme kicks off with
some spirited Russian-style song and dance from Le Tsarévitch
complete with atmospheric balalaikas to the fore. Lyric soprano
Lina Dachary, is featured here, and in the majority of tracks
on this album. Her singing sometimes tends to shrillness and
a slight tendency to miss her notes but this is a small quibble
for in the main she has warmth and spontaneity and, when required,
spunk. Her ‘Ah, pourquoi m’as-tu pris mon Coeur?’ (Frédérique)
is especially heart-touching.
A glorious disc
of Viennese Operetta excerpts well known and not so well-known.
Ian Lace
see also Review
by Göran Forsling
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Lina Dachary, Anita Ammersfeld
(sopranos), Remi Corazza, Alain Vanzo, Henri Legay (tenors), Aimé Doniat,
André Dran (baritones)
