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Carl Michael
ZIEHRER (1843-1922) Operatta Overtures
Ball bei Hof (1911) [8:39] Das dumme Herz [7:06] Der bleiche Zauberer (1890) [3:14] Der Fremdenführer (1902) [6:30] Der Schätzmeister (1904) [7:54] Der schöne Rigo (c.1889 reconstructed) [5:24] Die drei Wunsche (1901) [5:56] Manöverkinder (1912) [8:08] Ein Deutschmeister (1888) [5:31] Ein tolles Mädel (1907) [5:12] König Jérôme (1878) [5:03]
Slovak State Philharmonic
Orchestra/Christian Pollack
rec. House of the Arts, Kosice, Slovakia, 8-11 December 2006
Notes in English and German MARCO
POLO 8.225332 [68:37]
Carl Michael Ziehrer was born in Vienna in 1843.
Initially a dancing school pianist, his competence and confidence
led him to form a dance band with financial backing from
his wealthy father. A bandmaster in the Austrian army at
27, he went on to form an influential Viennese orchestra
when in his early thirties. When he did, he robbed Strauss
of some of his fine orchestral musicians through the attraction
of higher wages. Much of Ziehrer’s output -
not here - dates back to his dancing school days, but in
the 1890s he had some success as an operetta composer. At
that stage he was composing generally in the, by then, outdated
style of Johann Strauss. Considered by many Austrians to
be their finest composer of marches, the style is evident
in some of the overtures found here. At his death he left
24 operettas, over 400 dance pieces for the ballroom, and
around 70 marches. It is thought that much of his music from
his younger days has been lost.
Of the overtures, the Ein Deutschmeister
Overture is probably the best constructed
of those represented here, and introduces a myriad very
pleasant melodies. The rousing Ball bei Hof Overturethat
opens the disc is attractive in many ways and presents
us with
bright passages of pomp and ceremony. The music for Der
schöne
Rigo Overturewas destroyed when
Hamburg was bombed in the Second World War. What we hear
is a reconstruction by Christian
Pollack. Some of the melodies had been taken from Ziehrer’s
earlier operetta, Ein Deutschmeister so the orchestration
could be matched. Presumably, a vocal score showing the
melodies, and possibly a piano version of the overture
exists.
The
remainder of the disc is pleasant, but what we have are pieces
some of which could be classed more as dances in the Straussian
style rather than overtures. There is hardly any development
within the pieces and their rhythms are often particularly
regular. Ziehrer seems to adopt more of a ‘nuts and bolts’ recipe
to construction, which I find makes the music in some ways
less varied than many pieces from the pen of Strauss and
intended for Austrian vaudeville. Consequently, despite plenty
of colour, we have a certain monotony of style - however
pleasant - which I have never associated with overtures.
With
excellent forces in the Slovak State Philharmonic and a lovely
horn section, Christian Pollack achieves above average results
from the scores and gives us enjoyable performances. The
disc is well recorded, the excellent and broad acoustic enhancing
the brass wonderfully. If one enjoys Strauss waltzes and
his other dances then you will not be disappointed in these
offerings.
Despite
the rarity value of first time recordings of these pieces,
I would have expected this genre to have been issued on the
more general Naxos label rather than the rarefied specialist
Marco Polo.
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