Millöcker Gasparone

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Lehár

Genre:

Opera

Label: EMI

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 129

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 565378-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Giuditta Franz Lehár, Composer
Brigitte Lindner, Anita, Soprano
Edda Moser, Giuditta, Soprano
Franz Lehár, Composer
Friedrich Lenz, Sebastiano, Tenor
Günter Wewel, Martini, Bass
Jürgen Jung, Lord Barrymore
Jürgen von Pawels, Duke's Adjutant
Klaus Hirte, Manuele Biffi, Baritone
Ludwig Baumann, Antonio, Bass
Martin Finke, Pierrino, Tenor
Munich Concert Chorus
Munich Radio Orchestra
Nicolai Gedda, Octavio, Tenor
Thomas Wiedenhofer, Duke, Baritone
Willi Boskovsky, Conductor

Composer or Director: Carl Millöcker

Genre:

Opera

Label: EMI

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 90

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 565387-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(Der) Bettelstudent, `(The) Beggar Student' Carl Millöcker, Composer
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Carl Millöcker, Composer
Franz Allers, Conductor
Gerhard Unger, Jan Janicki, Baritone
Gisela Litz, Palmatica, Soprano
Graunke Symphony Orchestra
Hermann Prey, von Richthofen, Bass-baritone
Karl H. Bennert, Enterich, Tenor
Nicolai Gedda, Symon Rymanowicz, Tenor
Renate Holm, Bronislawa, Soprano
Rita Streich, Laura, Soprano

Composer or Director: Franz Lehár

Genre:

Opera

Label: EMI

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 95

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 565369-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Friederike Franz Lehár, Composer
Adolf Dallapozza, Goethe, Tenor
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Christian Wolff, Weyland
Erika Rüggeberg, Liselotte, Soprano
Franz Lehár, Composer
Gabriele Fuchs, Salomea, Soprano
Gudrun Greindl-Rosner, Dorothée, Soprano
Güstl Datz, Brion
Harry Kalenberg, Grand Duke
Heinz Wallberg, Conductor
Helen Donath, Friederike, Soprano
Helene Grabenhorst, Hortense
Jürgen von Pawels, Knebel
Maria Stadler, Magdalena
Martin Finke, Lenz, Tenor
Munich Radio Orchestra

Composer or Director: Carl Millöcker

Genre:

Opera

Label: EMI

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 82

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 565363-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Gasparone Carl Millöcker, Composer
Anneliese Rothenberger, Carlotta, Soprano
Bavarian State Opera Chorus
Carl Millöcker, Composer
Gabriele Fuchs, Sora, Soprano
Gerd W. Dieberitz, Luigi
Günter Wewel, Baboleno Nasoni, Tenor
Heinz Wallberg, Conductor
Hermann Prey, The stranger, Tenor
Martin Finke, Benozzo, Tenor
Munich Radio Orchestra
Willi Brokmeier, Sindulfo, Tenor

Composer or Director: Franz Lehár

Genre:

Opera

Label: EMI

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 87

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 565372-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(Das) Land des Lächelns, 'Land of Smiles' Franz Lehár, Composer
Anneliese Rothenberger, Lisa, Soprano
Bavarian Radio Chorus
Franz Lehár, Composer
Graunke Symphony Orchestra
Harry Friedauer, Gustl, Tenor
Jobst Moeller, Tschang, Baritone
Nicolai Gedda, Sou-Chong, Tenor
Renate Holm, Mi, Soprano
Willy Mattes, Conductor
To listen to these five CD reissues of classic Viennese operettas is to revisit what seems like a golden age, when the recording of Viennese operetta in more or less complete versions actually went beyond Die Fledermaus and Die lustige Witwe.
EMI's later version of Das Land des Lachelns (4/88—nla), Lehar's portrayal of the clash of western and eastern cultures, is far more complete and in richer sound than the version here. However, it does not necessarily overshadow this 1967 recording in terms of performance. The great glory of this earlier version is the singing of Nicolai Gedda, who brings off ''Dein ist mein ganzes Herz'' and the other Tauber favourites to splendid effect. With a distinguished supporting cast, including a secondary pair of singers who contrast well with the more serious leading pair, it's a recording to savour.
So is that of Der Bettelstudent. Carl Millocker may have left less of a mark on posterity than his two great compatriots, Johann Strauss and Franz von Suppe, but his masterpiece deserves to be classed with the best output of those other two masters. With a setting of Krakow in 1704, Millocker rose to the stimulus of a fine book by Vienna's top librettists, Zell and Genee, and produced a marvellously crafted score full of swinging melodies and a splendid sense of ongoing momentum. Though much lighter in style than those in Das Land des Lachelns, the tenor solos here are scarcely less rewarding, and once again it is Gedda's performance that shines out, albeit with fine support again from Anneliese Rothenberger and Renate Holm.
If the two later recordings under Heinz Wallberg are rather less successful, it is perhaps as much due to the works themselves as the performances. Lehar's Friederike, a romanticized story of Goethe's love for an Alsatian pastor's daughter, is strictly speaking not an operetta at all but a Singspiel or 'play with music'. Much dialogue intersperses solos and duets divided between two couples of lovers, with just a few choral contributions. Since the voices of the two couples are not too greatly contrasted in this recording, there is not the variety of sound one might expect from a Lehar score. On the other hand, there are typically glorious songs Lehar songs—''O Madchen, mein Madchen'', ''Warum hast du mich wachgekusst?'', as well as his setting of Goethe's ''Sah' ein Knab' ein Roslein steh'n''—and some typically glorious Lehar orchestration.
In the case of Gasparone, Millocker's second best score, there are once again some swinging waltz tunes, and the story of banditry in a Sicilian setting is an appealing one. Unfortunately the version used is a corrupt 1930s one with a rewritten book and redistributed score, which destroys much of the cumulative musico-dramatic effect at which Millocker was such an expert.
Finally Giuditta, in which Lehar's more ambitious later writing found its ideal expression, with a score written for Tauber and the Vienna State Opera and using a particularly opulent orchestration. Though Gedda takes the Tauber role again, his voice had by this time lost earlier glories, and the part is in any case a fiendishly difficult one. For all its much better sound-quality, this recording does not altogether surpass Decca's early stereo version from which extended excerpts have just been reissued. There Hilde Gueden was a far more alluring Giuditta than Edda Moser here. Yet this is a shimmeringly beautiful score, full of glorious full-blooded melody and like Der Bertelstudent and Das Land des Lachelns, it should be in every Viennese operetta collection. Even if one can't quite say that of Friederike and Gasparone, there is unlikely to be another opportunity to hear either of them complete. One way or another these are reissues to be welcomed and snapped up.'

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