N.N.
Operetta Research Center
29 June, 2014
The Swiss Radio SRF2 will dedicate a whole program to comparing Csárdásfürstin recordings on CD. The host of the show is Gabriela Kaegi, and her guests are stage director Frank Hilbrich and conductor Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer. The three will discuss five versions of the Emmerich Kálmán operetta on Monday night, 8 p.m.
Stage director Frank Hilbrich (Photo: PR)
The five recordings in question are: Lieselotte Maikl as Sylva Varescu and Hans Strohbauer as Edwin Ronald, in a version with the orchestra of the Wiener Staatsoper, conducted by Joseph Drexler in 1996. Then, there’s the Anneliese Rothenberger/ Nicolai Gedda version conducted by Willy Mattes (1988). The DVD version starring Anna Moffo is among the selected options, as is Yvonne Kenny’s NAXOS version conducted by Richard Bonynge. The Mörbisch recording starring Martina Serafin, conducted by Rudolf Bibl (2003), completes the list.
You may, rightfully, ask why the famous Robert Stolz recording with Schock/Schramm is not among the discussed versions. Also, why is the superlative historical version Fritzi Massary recorded in 1916 not discussed? After all, Massary was the original star of the show in Berlin, and her singing of “Ja so ein Teufelsweib” is unsurpassed, till today. It’s certainly very different to any other later version.
The US-versions of the Csárdásfürstin, released by the Operetta Archives, are not mentioned here either, though Kálmán himself had these radio broadcasts recorded, the CD Mike Miller issued uses tapes from the Kálmán family archive. (Worth listening to!)
Still, it should be interesting to hear Hilbrich and Wüstendörfer discuss operetta. Hilbrich staged a very “Wagnerian” Csárdásfürstin in Freiburg recently and scored a success with that. He now teaches opera students in Berlin how to move on stage, and the challenges of operetta are one of the things he wants to rehearse with the youngsters.
Conductor Lena-Lisa Wuestendoerfer (Photo: PR)
By the way, the Swiss radio already published the final verdict the studio guests arrived at:
Ach herrje! Keine der fünf Aufnahmen machte wirklich glücklich. Noch bis in unser Jahrhundert hinein pflegt man ungeniert weiterhin den glatten und polierten Operetten-Sound der 70er Jahre. Erstaunlich auch, wie oft ziemlich wüst und in totaler Unkenntnis des gesamten Werkes Änderungen gemacht, Einleitungen oder Nachklänge weggeschnitten, Strophen übersprungen werden. Dass Kálmán doch ziemlich genaue Tempoangaben macht und eigentlich ein feines Gespür für Dramaturgie hat, scheint viele der Dirigenten nicht zu kümmern. Richard Bonynge ist zwar ein akkurater Partiturleser, aber alles in allem etwas brav und steif. Klingt mehr nach Studio als nach Nachtclub so Frank Hilbrich und Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, Expertin und Experte dieser Diskothek. In der Produktion aus Mörbisch, einem Live Mitschnitt von der Operetten Seebühne, konnten die beiden Gäste noch am meisten Atmosphäre finden, und die reicht von manisch bis depressiv.
The program will be broadcast a second time on July 5, at 2 p.m.