Lehár - Die lustige Witwe (Studer, Skovhus, Terfel, Bonney, etc., Gardiner, VPO)

Posted By : Anywhere2007 | Date : 29 Nov 2009 23:43:50 | Comments : 5 |

Lehár - Die lustige Witwe

Cheryl Studer (sop): Hanna
Boje Skovhus (bar): Danilo
Bryn Terfel (bass-bar): Zeta
Rainer Trost (ten): Camille
Barbara Bonney (sop): Valencienne
Uwe Peper (ten): Raoul
Karl-Magnus Fredriksson (bar): Cascada
Heinz Zednik (ten): Njegus
Richard Savage (bar): Bogdanowitsch
Lynette Alcantara (sop): Sylviane
Philip Salmon (ten): Kromow
Constanze Backes (mez): Olga
Julian Clarkson (bass): Pritschitsch
Angela Kazimierczuk (sop): Pragkowia

Wiener Tschuschenkapelle; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
John Eliot Gardiner, Dir.

First the cliché. You wait 14 years for a new Merry Widow and then two come along at once! Only five months ago I welcomed EMI's release of the 1993 Royal Festival Hall concert performance, and now here comes this star-studded studio version from DG.
Next the blurb. Surprisingly, perhaps, this is the Vienna Philharmonic's first recording of The Merry Widow. It is also apparently the first time the orchestra have worked with John Eliot Gardiner. Characteristically he consulted the composer's autograph score and corrected a whole series of errors in the orchestral parts. We are told that, far from resenting the intrusion of an outsider, the Vienna Philharmonic players were throughout amazed at the sensitivity and humour that Gardiner brought to the piece.
Well, I can't promise that anyone will notice the results of Gardiner's work on the orchestral parts. But I can certainly believe the utter sincerity of the VPO's assessment of his conducting. This is one of those great operetta interpretations that is committed to record once in a generation if one is lucky. No wonder the orchestra booked Gardiner to conduct not only for further recordings but at the Vienna Philharmonic Ball itself. Where Welser-MOst's conducting for EMI was welcome for its echt-wienerisch approach, Gardiner's is on an altogether more inspired plane. In the Viennese rhythms, Gardiner shows himself utterly at home—as in the Act 2 Dance scene (omitted from the EMI recording), where he eases the orchestra irresistibly into the famous waltz. But there are also countless instances where Gardiner provides a deliciously fresh inflexion to the score, perhaps the 102 Gramophone February 1995 most obvious example being in the delightful but oft-neglected "Zauber der Häuslichkeit" duet. Gardiner takes its first section at something closer to a galop than the usual polka, thereby capturing all the more vividly the sheer elation of Va lencienne's and Camille's relationship.
The cast of singers is uniformly impressive. If Cheryl Studer's "Vilja" isn't quite as assured as Lott's for EMI, her captivatingly playful "Dummer, dummer Reitersmann" is typical of a well-characterized performance. As Danilo, Boje Skovhus may never challenge the sheer polish of Thomas Hampson's almost superhuman Danilo, but he offers a much more natural, more human characterization. No less beautifully sung in its different way, his lighter baritone takes us nearer to the tenor buffo Lehar had in mind. For the secondary couple, Rainer Trost proves an excellent alternative to EMI's impressive John Aler, while Barbara Bonney easily outshines EMI's Elzbieta Szmytka. Not the least inspired piece of casting comes with Bryn Terfel, who transforms himself outstandingly well into the bluff Pontevedrin ambassador. As for Gardiner's personally selected chorus, they make Monteverdi to Montenegro and Pontevedro seem the most natural transition in the world.

Gramophone, February 1995.

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