Listening To The Berlin Recordings Of Josef Josephi. Or: The “Elitekorps der Operette”
I’ve been on a bit of a Truesound Transfers trip these past few days. You know, that small Berlin based
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Opéra-Comique Overtures By Lecocq, Offenbach & Co.
The record label Naxos has just released a fascinating CD containing French 19th century overtures. One of these is the
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Robert Stolz At The Vatican. Or: 68 Versions Of “Ave Maria”
Soprano and producer Andrea Chudak has been working with settings of the “Ave Maria” for over 15 years. During this
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“Trafalgar sur un volcan”: An(other) Operetta About Terrorists?
The German record label cpo has recently released a CD of two short operettas. One of them is a real
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World-Premiere Recording of Strauss’ “Blindekuh” (1878) On Naxos
When it comes to Naxos and operetta, and Johann Strauss shows in particular, the famous budget label has a rather
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Four “Legendary Recordings” Of Richard Genée Shows, Including “Seekadett” & “Nanon”
On a sunny summer afternoon last year I had a long inspiring conversation about Richard Genée (1823-1895) with two operetta
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Sullivan, Cellier & Ford: “Haddon Hall,” “Captain Billy” And “Mr Jericho” On CD For The First Time
In 2018 the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company staged the first professional revival of Haddon Hall for about one
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Offenbach’s Final Farewell: “Die Schöne Lurette” (1880) In Two DDR Versions
As the times of self-isolation continue, so does the catching up on old and new operetta releases that I’ve been
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The Glory Of Offenbach: 2 1/2 Historical “Die Banditen” Recordings From Germany
When the world is under quarantine and everything is shut down because of a new virus – you have lots
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Dario Salvi: Recording Johann Strauss’ “Blindekuh” (1878) For Naxos In Sofia
“Blindekuh”, literally “blind cow”, is the German term for the “blind man’s buff” game – and it is the title
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Offenbach’s Hispanic Vogue: “Maître Péronilla” & “La Périchole” On Palazzetto Bru Zane
Offenbach and “The Hispanic Vogue”? As it turns out, there are two interesting new recordings out on Palazzetto Bru Zane
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World Premiere Recording Of Johann Strauss’ “Blindekuh” On Naxos
As part of their Johann Strauss “rediscovery series” the label Naxos is releasing the 1878 operetta Blindekuh which premiered at
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Revisiting Kurt Gänzl’s “Guide to Musical Theatre On Record”
“Wonderfully opinionated, outrageously frank, and always sensible” Yes, that was me. I suppose it still is … but in 1991
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Francisco Barbieri’s “Barberillo de Lavapies”: The Classic BBC Recording In English
This is totally delightful! Francisco Barbieri (1823-94) was the leading exponent of the zarzuela revival of the mid-19th century. He
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Leo Fall’s “Die Dollarprinzessin” With Ulf Schirmer From Munich
As part of their ongoing Leo Fall series, the label cpo has released a full cast album of Die Dollarprinzessin,
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The Songs Of Reynaldo Hahn On Palazzetto Bru Zane
For many, he’s just another famous representative of the Belle Époque, but there are few people that really know much
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Heymann, Offenbach & Ábrahám: New Albums And Concerts With The Capitol Symphony Orchestra
Here’s something truly special: an album of Werner Richard Heymann’s symphonic music that has not been available acoustically earlier and
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Dagmar Manzel’s New Solo Album “Sehnsucht” – With Three Paul Abraham Tracks
The fact that Dagmar Manzel has been involved in the Weimar Republic operetta revival at Komische Oper Berlin from the
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“Offenbach Colorature”: The Award-Winning Solo Album By Jodie Devos
Any solo album that starts off by knocking you on the head with the boisterous couplet of the animal trainer
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Dangerous When Wet: Offenbach’s Rediscovered “Le Royaume de Neptune” From the 1874 “Orphée Aux Enfers”
When Germany’s ultra-conservative Offenbach crusader Peter Hawig – who in a recent Jacques Offenbach Society newsletter remarked that “tying” the
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A Man And His Shadow: “Jonas Kaufmann Wien”
No, this is not scheduled as a mid-summer treat to coincide with the various operetta festival productions in Austria: the
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“Die lustige Witwe” With Marlis Petersen And Iurii Samoilov – Live From Oper Frankfurt
The original composer chosen für Die lustige Witwe by authors Leo Stein and Victor Léon was: Richard Heuberger. After he
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Fritzi Massary Sings “Csardasfürstin” & “Faschingsfee” In 1916/18
There’s a wonderful interview with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in which she talks about her student days in Berlin. She mentions that
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Kálmán’s “Faschingsfee” Live From Gärtnerplatz Theater Munich
Kálmán’s Faschingsfee started her phenomenal career abroad, to be exact: in Budapest and New York City. First the show premiered
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Jacques Offenbach’s “Folies symphoniques”: Howard Griffiths & Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt
You’ll forgive me for saying this, but provincial Brandenburg and the city of Frankfurt an der Oder (next to the
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Emmerich Kálmán’s “Ein Herbstmanöver” From Gießen With Michael Hofstetter
“The Gay Hussars”? I admit, the title of the 1909 Broadway version of Emmerich Kalman’s first operetta hit Tatájárás caught
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What Is The Best “Fledermaus” On Disc?
Ah yes, another Fledermaus recording. As if there aren’t enough already, right? Well, actually, this one from the NDR Radiophilharmonie
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“Dorothy” By Alfred Cellier: World Premiere Recording
Before the building of railways into London from the rest of south-east England in the third quarter of the nineteenth
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Thank Heaven for Little Girls: André Messager’s “Les p’tites Michu” On Palazzetto Bru Zane
Nature or nurture – that’s the central question in this charming social experiment operetta in three acts by André Messager.
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Kálmán’s “Kaiserin Josephine” (1936) On CPO: Live From The Léhar Festival in Ischl
Kálmán composed Kaiserin Josephine after his ‘regular’ first night theater, the Theater an der Wien, had gone bankrupt as a
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Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Das Lied der Liebe” From Leipzig
You know it’s Korngold alright from the very first bars: it’s an explosion of sound, hyper-intense like the opening of
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Ivor Novello’s “The Dancing Years”: The First Complete Recording
The effect of Ivor Novello’s music on me was immediate: I remember the first time I heard his songs on
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Ivor Novello & Kurt Gänzl: “The Dancing Years” On JAY Records
Any week now, John Yap’s company, JAY Records, is going to release a recording of Ivor Novello and Christopher Hassall’s
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“Lächeln trotz Weh und tausend Schmerzen”: Franz Lehárs Rundfunkaufnahmen im Dritten Reich
Yes, they are very famous and widely known: Lehár’s operettas as recorded by the Nazis, often with stellar casts, offering
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Desert Island Disc? “La Périchole” From Montpellier With Marc Minkowski
So here it is, finally: the live broadcast of Marc Minkowski’s performance of La Périchole with his Les Musiciens du
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Johann Strauss’s “Aschenbrödel” (1899): A Modern-Day Cinderella Story Conducted By Ernst Theis
It’s not exactly a secret that Johann Strauss was a great dance music composer. Before he turned to operetta in
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