“Recycling” was
probably not a word in use during the early decades of
the 20th century but with hindsight Franz Lehár might
well merit the soubriquet “recycler”. Not even his early – and
greatest – success The Merry Widow was free from
self-borrowing. The Vilja Song was originally
written for Der
Göttergatte. The
Land of Smiles (1929), as is well known, was a re-worked
version of the 1923 operetta Die gelbe Jacke.
The year after success with Land of Smiles he
came up with Schön ist die Welt (The World
is Beautiful)
which was basically a rearrangement of Endlich allein from
1914.
The
present recording is musically complete but there is
no spoken dialogue, which may be a blessing in the long
run.
The downside
is that, with no linking dialogue at all, one gets the
feeling of a highlights disc rather than a piece of musical
theatre.
Many other operetta recordings have been presented with
heavily foreshortened spoken parts just enough to give
a hint of
the action and establish unity. Stefan Frey in his booklet
notes points to Lehár’s wide musical tastes and also
his ambitions to widen the scope of the operetta genre.
As
early as 1910 he wrote Zigeunerliebe (see review)
where there are very few separate arias. Instead he composed
long scenes where there was sometimes room for aria look-alike
outbursts. In Schön ist die Welt the second act
consists of an opening scene with almost 15 minutes of
continuous
music and a final scene of the same proportions. Between
these there is a sole tenor “hit” song and a – to me – unknown
quantity of dialogue. Lehár’s “Wagnerian act” it has been
called. Even though the Wagner echoes are mostly on the surface
it is of some interest to note his attempts to break loose
from what he obviously regarded as the strait-jacket of operetta
convention. The setting is “a rocky plateau in the Alps” and
with a chromatic prelude evoking the outdoor atmosphere
we are indeed transported to the world of late-romantic
opera.
The action is carried on in a recitativic dialogue with
an active orchestra, colourful instrumentation and the
title
song Schön ist die Welt functioning as a Leitmotif.
This is also the case with the final scene of the act. The
outer acts are more conventionally operetta-ish, the novelty
being his use of popular dances: waltz of course, but also
tango. In the last act the secondary couple dance the brand
new rumba (track 16).
“The
action is set in the highest of high circles and on the
highest of high mountains. It is simple, gripping and stirring”.
This verdict comes from the pen of no less an expert than
Alfred Einstein. The story revolves around Crown Prince
Georg and Princess Elisabeth von und zu Lichtenberg who, to quote
the booklet text “are not mutually acquainted and do not
want to become mutually acquainted because others have
decided that they will make a perfect match but who promptly
fall
in love when they do it their own way”. This falling
in love occurs when the Crown Prince, disguised as a
mountain
guide,
brings Elisabeth to the Alps in act 2, where they have
to spend the night because an avalanche has blocked the
way.
An avalanche may seem like a novelty on the stage but
almost forty years before Schön ist die Welt,
another avalanche kills the lovers in the final scene
of Catalani’s La
Wally.
Lehár’s avalanche brings more positive results.
When
reviewing the Naxos reissue of Ackermann’s The Land of
Smiles I drew parallels with Puccini’s Turandot.
Even though Puccini is harmonically bolder Lehár’s orchestration
is similarly colourful and among the many scores found in
Lehár’s study were many of Puccini’s works. The overture
to Schön ist die Welt may point to a reverse influence,
that of Korngold learning from Lehár. This mighty music has
a distinct Hollywood flavour. Lehár wished to be able
to use film projection in his operetta. Operetta lovers
who
want nice hummable tunes will have their fill. There
is a beautiful duet (track 5), the title song (track
6), a
fine
tango (track 8) and the second act tenor aria (track
11). The whole third act is a veritable string of pearls
of
traditional operetta hits after the Wagnerian Alpine
excursion, including
the coloratura aria Bin verliebt, bin so verliebt (track
15) and the afore mentioned rumba (track 16). There’s
also much else.
Ulf
Schirmer has excellent feeling for the surge of the operetta
style and gives the waltzes and other dances the right
lilt. The Munich Radio Orchestra play as to the manner
born and
the chorus, what little they have to sing, is as good
as could be expected. The Bavarian Radio forces belong
to
the great vocal ensembles in Europe. The women’s voices
are excellent in the rumba, where also the orchestra
has a heyday. About
the solo singing I have a few reservations. Romanian
soprano Elena Mosuc, whose Mozart recital on Arte Nova,
issued
a few years ago, is a favourite disc, has one of the
loveliest lyric soprano voices around today. It is light,
agile,
beautiful
and used with absolutely ravishing musicality. As heard
here, however, she has adopted a vibrato that is very
irritating which detracts from the overall positive effect
of this
set..
It is a thousand pities since she does everything so
right. Her coloratura technique is second to none. Just
listen
to Bin
verliebt where she pegs in each of the stratospheric
notes plumb in the middle. For comparison I listened
to the original Elisabeth, Gitta Alpár, recorded in 1930 (available
on a Naxos disc, “Viennese Operetta Gems” 8.110292). Although
very skilled, some of Alpár’s highest notes are quite approximate.
However, since she lacks Mosuc’s vibrato her singing is more
comfortable to listen to. Don’t let these comments deter
you from acquiring the disc, though, since there is so
much that is good.
The
other principal singer, Zoran Todorovich, has a near-ideal
operetta voice: virile, expressive and with a lovely half
voice. I hope that he will be used more often. Listen to
his second act aria (track 11) where he is so honeyed, without
being sugary, and also the third act duet (track 14) how
he caresses the music. When we met a few years ago he expressed
a wish to sing more operetta. Obviously his wish has been
granted since this is at least his fourth operetta recording.
If there is a drawback it is his inclination to push for
volume, which sometimes results in a bleating sound. He has
a brilliant top but a couple of times in this recording the
uppermost notes become flat.
In
spite of my reservations this is a recommendable issue
and Lehár completists need not hesitate. General operetta
lovers will also find a lot to admire.
I
have, though, a few question marks and one or two really
black marks concerning the production. CPO and the Bavarian
Radio, who are co-producers, have chosen to let the main
protagonists also sing the secondary couple, Mercedes
and Sascha. This can hardly be described as authentic since
the
two couples actually appear on stage together. This can
be a bit confusing. More confusing, and to me inexplicable,
is that the music is not presented in the correct order.
The synopsis gives an outline of the action. In the outer
acts the musical numbers are reshuffled, seemingly at
random.
In spite of meticulous scrutinizing of the booklet I
was unable to find a clue. There are no sung texts and, even
more seriously, no tracklist, no song titles, no individual
timings. The soprano aria Bin verliebt, bin so verliebt is
identified in the synopsis: “But the princess can no
longer contain herself and confesses to her unsuspecting
aunt in
well-worded coloraturas that she is ‘in love’ [track
15]”.
Slipshod and/or condescending!
To
end on a more happy note: the sound is first class!
Göran Forsling
Elena Mosuc
(soprano) – Elisabeth, Mercedes; Zoran Todorovich
(tenor) – Georg, Sascha; Roland Kandlbinder (tenor) – Direktor;
Isabella Stettner (soprano) and Masako Goda (soprano) – zwei
Damen; Andreas Hirtreiter (tenor) and Wolfgang Klose (bass) – zwei
Herren 
