This recording of Offenbach’s one-act operetta Un
mari à la porte derives from staged performances
given in Liverpool as part of the city’s festival as European
City of Culture. It seems to have been a somewhat eccentric
production, with all the roles double cast and both singers
and actors taking each of the parts on stage. In this purely
audio recording the actors who speak the dialogue simply fit
into their spoken sections without any such distractions. The
operetta is known nowadays purely for the Valse Tyrolienne
sung by Rosita in the third scene which has been recorded many
times as part of various recitals. The work as a whole here
receives what appears to be its first ever recording.
The overture consists of a suite of waltzes which are charmingly
delivered by a suitably cheeky orchestra under the lively direction
of Petrenko. It introduces a plot of consummate silliness and
immorality, where a reluctant bride on her wedding night is
disturbed in her bedroom by an intruder who is fleeing from
pursuit by an importunate debt collector. The bride and her
companion are both enchanted by the stranger. When the bridegroom
- who is the bailiff in question - comes to the bedroom, they
contrive to keep him outside and lock themselves in together
with the attractive younger man. What happens next is best left
to the imagination.
In the six musical vocal numbers Gabrielle Philiponet and Anaïk
Morel as the two girls make a charming couple, well matched
in their duets. Philiponet is properly spectacular in her Valse
Tyrolienne which is the only solo number in the score. The
other duets, trios and quartets are fully its equal in quality.
Malbec-Garcia has a rather small tenorino voice, with
plenty of character, but one could imagine a more honeyed style
of delivery in the more lyrical lines. When the husband arrives
outside the door, complete with a party kazoo, Marc Canturri
contrives to sound well in the aural picture, indeed slightly
nearer to the microphones than the onstage characters. No matter;
it keeps the four voices in the quartet passages in proper balance
with each other.
The spoken dialogue occupies some ten minutes of the total forty
minute duration, but it is crisply delivered with plenty of
dramatic force (by Mélanie le Moine, Caroline Garnier,
Vincent Dedienne and Loïc Varraut). It is separately tracked
so it can be omitted if desired. It has been recorded in the
same acoustic as the musical numbers, so blends well into the
overall picture.
The six songs which constitute Les fables de la Fontaine
employ the same singers as the operetta. Clearly it was recorded
specifically as a fill-up for the proposed CD. In the opening
The crow and the fox Canturri gets a better chance to
show off a nicely turned voice than he was given in the operetta.
Philiponet and Morel are again excellent, especially the former
who shades her voice nicely in the beautifully sentimental The
shepherd and the sea. Malbec-Garcia could do with a more
vibrant voice in The town rat and the country rat. This
is the shortest song in the cycle and there is not much scope
for lyricism here. The three lower singers come together in
the final song, although Morel has the lion’s share of
the music in her role as the narrator. Nicolai Krügel is
an excellently responsive pianist who gets plenty of humour
into his accompaniments.
The songs were apparently criticised for their over-elaboration
at the time they were given their first performance. They are,
however, delightfully witty pieces which look forward to Offenbach’s
later career. Gerald Larner in his booklet essay correctly notes
that they look forward not only to the songs of Chabrier but
also to Ravel’s Histoires naturelles. They have
been recorded before by Bruno Laplante on a Calliope release
from 2004. Here we are given them split between four singers.
This not only provides more variety but also gives a better
definition to the dialogue in the final The cobbler and the
banker.
The presentation of this CD is a model of what such things should
be. We have two booklets. One is a CD insert which gives a synopsis
of the plot, details of the works performed, and biographies
of the performers (including the actors) in English, French
and German. The second booklet, housed in the slipcase, gives
complete texts in French with an English translation. The recorded
sound is excellent throughout, and there is no evidence at all
of any audience presence in the live performance of the operetta
- no applause, and most surprisingly no laughter either.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Gabrielle Philiponet (soprano) - Rosita; Anaïk Morel (mezzo)
- Suzanna; Stéphane Malbec-Garcia (tenor) - Florestan; Marc
Canturri (baritone) - Martel; Nicolai Krügel (piano)+ 