Johann STRAUSS (1825 - 1899)
Die Fledermaus - operetta in three acts (1884)
Herbert Lippert (tenor) - Gabriel von Eisenstein; Alexandra Reinprecht
(soprano) - Rosalinde; Harald Serafin (baritone) - Frank; Daniela Fally
(soprano) - Adele; Daniel Serafin (baritone) - Dr. Falke; Zoryana Kushpler
(mezzo) - Prinz Orlofsky; Angus Wood (tenor) - Alfred; Helmuth Lohner
(speaking role) - Frosch; Gernot Heinrich (tenor) - Dr. Blind; Daniela
Lehner (soprano) - Ida; Fedir Hubachov (speaking role) - Iwan
Chor und Ballett der Seefestspiele Mörbisch; Statisterie der Seefestspiele
Mörbisch, Festival Orchester Mörbisch/Manfred Mayrhofer
Direction: Helmuth Lohner
Sets and Costumes: Amra Buchbinder
Choreography: Giorgio Madia
Light design: Friedrich Rom
Picture format: 16:9; Sound format: Dolby Digital 5.0 (Surround); Region
Code: 0; Subtitles: English
rec. live, Seefestspiele Mörbisch 2012
VL KLASSIK VLMD019 
[180:00]
The Seefestspiele Mörbisch is an annual operetta
festival held since 1957 during the summer at Mörbisch am See in
Austria. With approximately 150,000 visitors it is the biggest operetta
festival in the world. The repertoire is basically drawn from the established
Viennese standard works with occasionally some lesser known things.
During the last few years there have also been a couple of musicals:
My Fair Lady in 2009 and Jerry Bock’s Anatevka (Fiddler
on the Roof) is scheduled for 2014. Last year (2012) they showcased
“the operetta of operettas” and very successful it was and
remains.
The director Helmuth Lohner, who also is an inimitable and show-stealing
Frosch in the last act, has produced a charming, entertaining, colourful
and suitably crazy Fledermaus. He focuses quite a lot on the
dancing quality of the music and engages the excellent ballet for several
spectacular inserted numbers: a Furioso Polka by the elder Strauss
and Tik-Tak-Polka by Johann. He even introduces the dancers during
the overture, in Pierrot costumes. All the ballet scenes are as delicious
and sweet as the traditional Sachertorte, served with the obligatory
whipped cream. The whole production is youthful and vital, belying the
director’s age: he turned eighty in April this year - 2013. With
a career of more than sixty years as actor on stage, in films and television
and as director of spoken theatre, opera and operetta, he knows all
the facets of a successful production.
Another veteran also makes his mark in this production. Harald Serafin,
born 1931, finished his twenty years’ sojourn as general manager
of the festival with this production by taking the role of Frank, the
prison director. He still sings with remarkable lightness and is a brilliant
actor, not least through his expressive ‘rubber’ face. For
me it was particularly fascinating to see him, because I saw and heard
him as Danilo in Die lustige Witwe at Theater an der Wien more
than forty years ago.
That his talent is inherited by the next generation is quite obvious
when one sees his son Daniel as Dr. Falke in this production: handsome,
excellent actor and wonderful singer. Just watch and listen to him in
the act II finale (Ch. 8), where his Brüderlein is truly
enchanting.
As Gabriel von Eisenstein we meet Herbert Lippert, an admirable lyric
tenor whom I first encountered as Tamino on the Naxos recording of Die
Zauberflöte almost twenty years ago. His smooth and expressive
tenor is still in wonderful shape and he makes the most of the many
comic situations he faces.
Alfred, the ‘lover’ of Eisenstein’s wife, is a typical
Italian tenor and Angus Wood is wholeheartedly Italianate, singing his
entrance aria carrying an Orpheian lyre and holding his final note forever.
The Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Zoryana Kushpler is a magnificent Orlofsky,
alluring in her appearance and more full-blooded, less blasé
than the traditional Russian prince. Since 2007 she has been a member
of the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera, where one of her colleagues
is Alexandra Reinprecht, the Rosalinda in this production. Having spent
some years at the Vienna Volksoper she is well versed in operetta. A
splendid actress and brilliant singer she makes Klänge der Heimat
(Ch. 7) one of the highlights of the performance.
The young Daniela Fally has made Adele something of a speciality. She
was even awarded the Eberhard Waechter Medal for her interpretation
of the role some years ag. This is understandable enough since she is
a great comedienne and has extraordinary coloratura technique, including
a superb trill.
The playing of the orchestra is, it need hardly be said, idiomatic and
technically first class. The gusto of Unter Donner und Blitz
in the party scene in act II is infectious and the chorus is also very
good.
A minor warning: due to the outdoor setting the singing has to be amplified,
and the microphones can be a bit disturbing when the cameras are zoomed-in
for close-ups. One soon forgets this and the reproduction of the singing
is impeccable.
I have long been very fond of the Covent Garden production of Fledermaus,
conducted by Placido Domingo and with Hermann Prey, Kiri Te Kanawa and
Benjamin Luxon among the soloists. The present version now joins that
established favourite. My wife is no great admirer of Die Fledermaus,
but she almost got into a trance from the very beginning and this is
the highest mark a production can get. Trust my wife’s judgement
and place your orders.
Göran Forsling
