MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


Johann STRAUSS II (1825 – 1899)
Fürstin Ninetta Operetta in three acts (Complete in German without dialogue) (1893)
Tua Åberg (soprano) – Ninetta Campocasso; Elin Rombo (soprano) – Anastasia Knapp  (Ferdinand’s mother); Henriikka Gröndahl (soprano) – Adelheid Möbius; Jesper Taube (baritone) – Cassim Pascha; Lord Plato; Fredrik Strid (tenor) – Ferdinand Knapp; Göran Eliasson (tenor) – Prosper Möbius (Adelheid’s father); Ola Eliasson (baritone) – Baron Mörsburg; Samuel Jarrick (baritone) – Emilio; Consul Rübke; Michael Axelsson (tenor) – Wirth (Landlord); Anders Blom (tenor) – Quästor (Arbiter); Kristina Martling (contralto) – Rustan (Cassim’s servant); Katarina Wedin-Nilsson (soprano) – Laura
Ninetta Chorus; Stockholm Strauss Orchestra/Valéria Csányi
rec. Live, Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, Sweden, 7 October 2007
The German libretto can be accessed at the Naxos website
NAXOS 8.660227-28 [58:03 + 45:12]
Experience Classicsonline

Premiered in January 1893 Ninetta, Strauss’s twelfth operetta, was quite a success, running for 76 performances at the Theater an der Wien. It was also staged by a dozen other theatres in the Austrian Empire but after 1905 it was not given again. To quote the liner-notes: ‘Sleeping Beauty slept a hundred years, Fürstin Ninetta for 102.’
 
This is a fate that has fallen upon most of his sixteen operettas. Die Fledermaus is practically the only one that is regularly played although Der Zigeunerbaron and Eine Nacht in Venedig also pop up now and then. The reason for the neglect is hardly musical but the choice of librettos has often been called in question. In the case of Ninetta Strauss is only partly to blame since he only authorised the plot and the lyrics, not the dialogue. When he was present at the first dress rehearsal he was reportedly surprised by the dialogue, which he found completely at odds with his music. ‘This libretto does not need any music at all’, was his comment. In consequence, the present recording, taken from a concert performance at Berwaldhallen, the concert hall of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, omits all the spoken dialogue.
 
The story is filled with misunderstandings and complications but everything is sorted out in the end and the young lovers, Adelheid and Ferdinand, are free to marry. But they are a secondary couple anyway. It is the Russian-born princess Ninetta, widow of an Italian prince, and the Turkish hypnotist Cassim Pascha, who are the central characters. Ninetta’s passion is to dress as a man and during the proceedings of the operetta, which plays at a beach-hotel in Sorrento, Italy, she appears in several disguises, which in its turn leads the guests to believe, in the finale of act II, that Cassim has murdered five different people. This is also cleared up before the last curtain-fall and everybody lives happily ever after, Prosper Möbius is so happy that he indulges in some yodelling.
 
So much for the story. The music is in the main out of Strauss’s top drawer. There is a short march-like overture that at once evokes that special Straussian tingle factor. The introduction scene, with splendid choral writing further enhances the feel-fine factor. There are solos for the main characters: Ferdinand, Ninetta and Cassim. There are some duets and several ensembles, notably the two extended finales to act I and II. The latter is one of Strauss’s finest creations, not only for the marvellous melodies but even more for the dramatic tension and some contrapuntal writing for the chorus. In addition we are treated to illustrative orchestral effects and a dark operatic doomsday atmosphere before the murders are sorted out one by one. Ninetta’s long solo, with its melismatic opening, should be a fine showpiece at any solo recital.
 
The separate solos and duets are also memorable, perhaps finest of all Cassim’s waltz Einst träumte mir (CD 2 tr. 6). This is followed by a children’s ballet, accompanied by Neue Pizzicato Polka, Op. 449, which was composed by Strauss in the spring of 1892, long before he finished the operetta. It is exquisitely played here, as is the rest of the music. The Stockholm Strauss Orchestra was founded in 1992 and its fifty players are drawn from all the major orchestras in Stockholm. It has the original Wiener Johann Strauss-Capelle as its model. They play all kinds of music and have a repertoire of more than 1200 works. Judging by this recording they are devoted to the music of Strauss. The members of the Ninetta Chorus were handpicked for this production by the chorus-master Bo Wannefors from the Swedish Radio Choir and the Choir of the People’s Opera (Folkoperan). Rarely if ever do we encounter such ravishing choral singing in operetta.
 
Among the soloists Jesper Taube’s Cassim stands out as a superb operetta charmer: manly, warm of voice, with the right operetta lilt and expressive with words. I have seen and heard him a number of times, most recently his excellent Dandini in Stockholm’s La Cenerentola less than a year ago (see review). His singing here surpasses everything I have heard. Almost on a par with him is Tua Åberg as Ninetta. She has been a leading coloratura for quite some time now – I first heard her while she was still a student at the University College of Opera in Stockholm and thought then that she had something of Toti Dal Monte about her. The agility and the pinpoint accuracy at the top are still there as is the beauty of tone, even though it has hardened slightly. She is however superb in her chanson in act II (CD 2 tr. 2) – a lovely song! - as she is in the preceding long hypnotising duet with Cassim (CD 2 tr. 1).
 
Fredrik Strid and Henriikka Gröndahl as the young couple, Ferdinand and Adelheid, have agreeable voices, though they take some time to warm up. Ferdinand’s mother and Adelheid’s father Elin Rombo and Göran Eliasson are excellent. I had reason to praise Ms Rombo quite recently when reviewing the world premiere of Sven-David Sandström’s opera Batseba (see review). Ola Eliasson and Samuel Jarrick also make good impressions.
 
The recording engineer is Gert Palmcrantz, which for many years has been a guarantee of excellent sound. Distant applause is heard at end of acts and after some numbers. The German libretto can be downloaded but here I have to issue a warning: it is printed in old German type, which I suppose can pose problems to at least younger readers. Still it heightens the experience to be able to understand the essentials of the plot and who is singing what. What counts most of all is however the music. I think every lover of Strauss II or operetta in general should hear this. It is hardly likely that there will be an opportunity to catch any other performance of this work nor another recording of it. This one gives a worthy representation of this delectable score.
 
Göran Forsling
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.