With the exception of Die lustige
Witwe which together with Die
Fledermaus has claims to be the
best operetta ever, Das Land des
Lächelns is the most popular
of all the Lehár stage works.
Ironically much of
the music for Das Land des Lächelns
was written several years earlier, in
1923, for Die gelbe Jacke (The
Yellow Jacket), which was a flop.
However in 1929 Lehár reworked
it to a new libretto and with Richard
Tauber in the central role of Prince
Sou-Chong it became a resounding success.
More serious, even tragic, than Die
Witwe, it is filled with memorable
songs and a scoring that is far more
advanced than in most other operettas.
Partly set in China it can be tempting
to compare it to Puccini’s Turandot,
written at about the same time. Although
the differences are obvious, with Puccini’s
harmonic language considerably bolder,
that doesn’t necessarily mean that Lehár
emerges second best. The orchestral
and choral introduction to the second
act can confidently stand comparison
with Puccini.
It is gratifying to
be able to report that this 1953 recording
offers excellent sound, catching the
glorious playing of the Philharmonia
in their early splendour. Mark Obert-Thorn,
working with clean source material,
has conjured forth so much orchestral
colour that one hardly misses the greater
depth and the wider frequency range
of more modern stereo recordings. With
Otto Ackermann being a sure-footed operetta
conductor the music gets its true rhythmic
lilt. The overture – a potpourri of
some of the best songs – is an irresistible
opener, whetting the appetite for what
is to follow.
And when the curtain
is up the plot unfolds in a relaxed
but never clogging fashion. The spoken
dilogue is reduced to a minimum, just
enough to make the action hang together,
which is a blessing when one listens
to it the third time, not to mention
the twenty-third. The soloists mostly
deliver their spoken lines with feeling
and natural inflection. The young Gedda
may sound a little stiff compared to
his more experienced collegues but in
the main he is also well in the picture.
When it comes to the singing this could
hardly be bettered. Gedda’s first appearance
is soft and inward and the following
duet with Lisa, Bei einem Tee à
deux – (Lehár’s answer to
"Tea for Two") the second
stanza of which is cut by the way –
is so lovely sung with fresh, lyrical
beautiful tone. Von Apfelblüten
einen Kranz is more outgoing, showing
his brilliant top notes while the
set-piece Dein ist mein ganzes Herz
is surprisingly restrained until towards
the end he unleashes all his tenoral
gold. Perhaps the most memorable singing
in the whole operetta is Gedda’s last
few lines, deeply felt and filled with
pain and remorse – this is really heart-rending.
Schwarzkopf, always
at her best in Viennese operetta, has
that remarkable mix of glittering charm
and lightness on one hand and the lieder-singer’s
attention to verbal inflection and musical
nuance. The "Tea for Two"
duet as well as Wer hat die Liebe
uns in Herz geschenkt in Act 2 are
good examples but whenever she appears
she sounds so right and natural. When
in the end of Act 2 she realizes that
Sou-Chong really is going to take four
wives she hurls Ich hasse dich! (I
hate you!) straight into his face with
a disgusting snarl. Here she is the
great tragedienne, the operetta equivalent
of Callas’s Tosca.
As Gustl Erich Kunz
is so warm of tone and so unaffectedly
natural in his singing – this is no
"serious" opera star letting
his hair down. Charm is definitely a
word that can be applied to anything
Kunz ever did; his suave delivery of
the third act duet with Mi being further
evidence. And Emmy Loose is a perfect
soubrette Mi, elegant, bright-toned
and – charming. Otakar Kraus displays
a fine dramatic baritone in Tschang’s
few lines, making this a very strong
recommendation to anyone wanting a more
or less complete "Land of Smiles".
Competition isn’t too
keen. About fifteen year later EMI released
a stereo remake, again with Gedda as
the Prince, his then regular operetta
partner Anneliese Rothenberger as Lisa
and the lovely Renate Holm as Mi. It
is a good version but it is grander,
heavier, lacking in what is the hallmark
of the present version – charm and Viennese
elegance. Even later EMI recorded it
again, if I’m not mistaken, with Siegfried
Jerusalem as Sou-Chong. I haven’t heard
that one. Finally in 2001 Arte Nova
released a somewhat reshuffled version
from the Mörbisch Festival with
practically all the music but no spoken
dialogue on one superbudget CD. It is
conducted by Rudolf Bibl, one of the
truly great operetta Kapellmeisters
during the last forty years or so. I
heard him conduct Die lustige Witwe
in Vienna as long ago as 1972 and again
in 2002. He knows his Lehár of
course, but the singing is nowhere near
the standard on either of the other
two.
If somebody still needs
to be persuaded to acquire this set,
there is a tempting "filler":
an appendix of more than 66 minutes
with legendary (and a few not very legendary)
singers performing excerpts from Lehár
operettas. And I could fill another
two or three pages with deeper analyses
of these, but apart from a few random
comments I will leave it to the prospective
buyers to find out what a treasure-trove
this is. Here are a number of tenors;
well schooled, steady, rounded voices,
phrasing well but maybe too monochrome
in the German manner of the era: Tauber
of course, inimitable, the very similarly-sounding
Wittrisch, the lesser-known Aramesco
and Glawitsch, good singers both, and
maybe best of all, Helge Rosvaenge,
Danish-born but spending most of his
long career in Germany, singing with
seductive Schmaltz and with the most
brilliant top notes.
We also hear Dusolina
Giannini, more known for lyric-dramatic
Italian roles like Aida, and her full-throated
version of the Vilja-Lied is quite heavy,
but it is a classy voice. Hungarian
Ester Rethy with the composer conducting
has a natural operetta voice, agile
and beautiful with gleaming top; the
pretty-voiced Irene Eisinger with excellent
coloratura and perfect trill – and it
is good to hear something from Der
Fürst der Berge for once; the
delectable Jarmila Novotna as Giuditta,
the part she created at the Vienna State
Opera, here recorded with Lehár
at the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic.
It should be noted though that this
is not track 22 as indicated
in the booklet; it is track 20.
Finally: the two supreme
stars – Lotte Lehmann in her fiftieth
year still retaining her silvery, almost
girlish tone and phrasing Feldmarschallin-like;
it is easy to hear the similarities
with the very young Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,
here in two long potpourris, recorded
in 1939 and 1940 (surely her earliest?).
The sound on these Telefunken sides
is variable but we can still recognize
the typical Schwarzkopf timbre and her
very individual way with the phrases.
There is not a dull number here and
the restoration of the originals is
up to Ward Marston’s usual standard.
Still hesitating? OK,
I give up – and I haven’t got the time
to bargain any more. I must go back
to my listening room and play a few
tracks from this Desert-Island set before
bedtime.
Göran Forsling
see also
review by Ian Lace
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus/Otto Ackermann
