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Leo FALL (1873-1925)
Die Dollarprinzessin - Operetta in 3 Acts (1907)
Alice - Christiane Libor (soprano), Daisy Gray - Magdalena Hinterdobler (soprano), Olga Labinska - Angela Mehling (soprano), John Couder - Thomas Mohr (tenor), Fredy Wehrburg - Ferdinand von Bothmer (tenor), Hans Freiherr von Schuck - Ralf Simon (tenor), Dick - Tobias Haaks (tenor), Tom - Marko Cilic (tenor)
Chor der Musikalischen Komödie Leipzig, Münchner Rundfunkorchester / Ulf Schirmer
German text, English translation included.
rec. 2012, Prinzregententheater, Munich
CPO 777906-2 [53:25 + 68:30]

With this live recording of Leo Fall’s third operetta, Die Dollarprinzessin the CPO label continues its series of rarely performed operettas. Many of these recordings are the first to reveal these works in all of their forgotten glory. This operetta followed directly after the astounding success of Lehar’s The Merry Widow in 1905. To my ears it was very pleasant spending two hours with it. Leo Fall was still a relatively young composer in his mid 30’s when he worked on this commission. The orchestration shows that he was trying to invent new ideas for the scoring of these numbers; there are two songs that involve a typewriter to make their musical effects. Aside from the expected lilting waltz refrains in Act III we get a lively trio that celebrates the recent invention of the motorcar with the clever use of period car horns. I do find that in spite of the music’s general attractiveness much of the score isn’t immediately memorable in the way that many of Lehar’s melodies were in the earlier operetta. The plot is a very flimsy construction on which to support Fall’s melodies. This is likely the main reason for the dearth of revivals that this work has received. The cast involved here are all well up to the task of making a good case for the release of a recording.

Christiane Libor uses her vibrant soprano to convey the independent spirit of Alice, the dollar princess of the title. Her love interest is Ferdinand von Bothmer as the playboy Freddy. He has a robust voice with a pleasant sound although he is slightly stretched by his opening waltz song on this occasion. The ubiquitous second couple are played by Ralf Simon as Hans and Magdalena Hinterdobler as Daisy. Mr Simon is in top form for his entrance aria; his plangent voice includes a welcome heft to the sound and doesn’t become unwieldy. Ms Hinterdobler sings and acts her dialogue with great character. Things do seem to come to life whenever she is in the picture. The same could also be said of Angela Mehling as the irrepressible Olga.

The Munich Radio Orchestra sound splendid under the loving care of Maestro Ulf Schirmer. He manages to imbue the proceedings with the correct sense of Viennese style that is needed to unearth these long sleeping operettas for a modern audience.

The sound engineers have done an excellent job at preserving the feel of this live occasion. There is plenty of dialogue included but alas no libretto or translation to enjoy it with. The laughter of the audience is occasionally heard but no stage noises which lead me to think this was a concert performance.

This is a pleasant romp through “operetta land” that has been reliably cast and well recorded.

Mike Parr