Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37562 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Viennese operetta is a fearful genre to get right. It demands great (often coloratura) voices which can still sparkle with improvisatory freshness, and the whole project has to sound like it was thrown together that afternoon on a whim. It has to fizz like the champagne that so often plays a part in the plot. For the most part, this recording possesses all the right ingredients and mixes them with superb skill. Karajan directs the proceedings with light-hearted precision, and keeps the pace crackling with comic energy. Rita Streich is a fantastic Adele and makes the most of this soubrettish soufflé of a role with a host of silvery voiced coloratura pyrotechnics. She is also an excellent foil to the richer voiced Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who throws herself into the spirit of things with equal energy. The cons are the laboured German dialogue, given in full, and the casting of a man to sing the mezzo drag role of Orlofsky: but these aside, this account is pure Veuve Cliquot. --Warwick Thompson

Customer Reviews

Come with me to a supper.
"Come with me to a supper."
So sings Dr Falke to his crony Eisenstein.
And what a supper it turns out to be! Besides the champagne, the dancing and the food provided at the villa of the world-weary young Prince Orlovsky, we see Eisenstein flirting with a masked "Hungarian lady" (Eisenstein's wife in disguise), Eisenstein's maid Adele (in a ball dress filched from her mistress's wardrobe) pretending to be an actress, and Dr Falke arranging a "pay back" for Eistenstein who had recently concocted a joke by which Dr Falke had been made to sneak home, after a fancy dress ball, through the city streets dressed as a bat.

Listening to the music that Johann Strauss Jnr provided for this "supper", it is hard to believe that "Die Fledermaus" was taken off after only 16 performances at its premiere Vienna season. Soon after, however, it was taken up elsewhere, notably in Hamburg where it was conducted by Mahler. Nowadays, it can be seen everywhere (often in up-dated productions), and music lovers can select from umpteen recorded versions.

This one has recently gravitated to the prestigious "Great Recordings of the Century" eminence. It is one of a classic series of recordings made in the mid 1950s by the producer Walter Legge. Featuring the orchestra he created (the Philharmonia), his wife Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and the conductor whose career he had thus far promoted (Herbert von Karajan), it still remains one of the best recommendations despite its limited monaural sound. There is verve and sparkle a-plenty, the casting is flawless, there is a strong sense of ensemble, and dialogue is included.

To balance all of this, it should be mentioned that the Act II ballet music Strauss provided has been omitted (the booklet accompanying my set states that that waltz "Künstlerleben" is interpolated in its stead, but this is not so). As has sometimes happened, the part of Orlovsky, originally for mezzo soprano, is here sung by a baritone. And it is tenor Nicolai Gedda, as Eisenstein, who takes the lead in the Act II sextet "Brüderlein, Brüderlein und Schwesterlien", instead of baritone Erich Kunz as Dr Falke.

I hope there is enough here to help browsers make a choice. I should hate to be forced to choose only one recorded "Die Flederamaus", but this is certainly one that I would hate to be without. Duration: 110 minutes.

The best
Karajan's first recording is often ovelooked, but it is a wonderful thing, and once you own it you will not need any others. Schwarzkopf's Rosalinde is fine, as is Gedda's Eisenstein, but the real star of the show is Rita Streich as Adele. She gives a wonderful performance, and the det is worth buying for her alone. Kunz as Falke is fine, but Franz Boheim's extremely drunk Frosch is slightly annoying. However, a great introduction to Fledermaus, and a bargain at the price Amazon is offering.