This is a ''Merry Widow'' with a difference—a live performance by the Vienna Volksoper company, albeit recorded not in Vienna but in Tokyo. To be honest, it offers little competition to previous versions when considered by conventional LP standards. Of the principal singers, Dagmar Koller's soprano is decidedly unpleasant in her opening duet and Peter Minich's tenor is often strained. Some very funny things happen to the score, as well, from the opening orchestral introduction, through Hanna's entrance and onwards. There are also many moments of poor ensemble, some blaring orchestral sound and scratchy strings.
Of course, there are good things too. Mirjana Irosch demonstrates a sweet soprano and presents a most attractive ''Vilja'', and Richard Karczykowski—Covent Garden's Alfred in Die Fledermaus—comes good, especially in an emotional ''Wie eine Rosenknospe''. There are charming touches, too, in the exchanges between Hanna and Danilo at the end of Act 1, and a lively Act 2 finale with a touching ''Es waren zwei Konigskinder''. But the appeal of the recording must really lie very largely in it being a live performance, with all the atmosphere of a theatre and an audience, encores, stage movement and applause. The effect is felt in such moments as the Weiber-Septet, encored twice with audience clapping, and the cumulative excitement of the fun and games of a last act built up with additional pieces of Lehar (the Zwanzinette from Eva and the Nechledil March from Wiener Frauen) and several doses of the cancan from Orphee aux enfers. It's that sort of performance, and it may well appeal to someone who has dreamed in vain of attending a performance of this classic Viennese operetta performed by a cast of Viennese operatic stars. It is also the only ''Merry Widow'' available so far on CD. But this latter situation must surely change soon, and meanwhile I can't help thinking that this represents an uneasy compromise between a properly finished studio recording and the sense of theatrical involvement provided by a theatre video recording.'