Jerry Hadley’s self-professed love of Viennese operetta shines through this fine collection, which winningly mixes the obvious tenor hits of twentieth-century Viennese operetta with some less obvious items. The obvious, of course, include no fewer than nine of the Franz songs Lehar songs that became associated with Richard Tauber. Hadley delivers these in less dramatic form than Tauber, but with no less compelling lyricism and with some typically Tauberian pianissimo. The less obvious items include yet another ‘Tauber-Lied’ in one that Tauber himself composed for his 1934 operetta Der singende Traum. Less obvious, too, are two lighthearted dancing numbers from Kalman’s Die Csardasfurstin, showing Hadley’s grasp of comedy Viennese operetta numbers. Happily we are also treated to a couple of waltz numbers by the wickedly underrated Leo Fall, whose ability to tease a text into intriguing melodic shape with delicate orchestral texturing was unmatched among Viennese operetta composers. Even rarer, and thus perhaps most welcome of all, are the charming numbers by Edmund Eysler, composer of homely Viennese operettas that have been far too neglected since the days when they provided rewarding material for the likes of Julius Patzak.
If just occasionally Hadley suggests a slightly unidiomatic German inflexion, there are few native German speakers who could match his relaxed grasp of the Viennese operetta style. This in turn is matched by the echt-Wienerisch th whose unashamed love of Viennese operetta shines through. Beautifully recorded, this really is a model Viennese operetta recital.AML