Search - Johann Strauss, Ferenc Fricsay, A. Schlemm :: Die Fledermaus

A perfectly delightful, fizzy 'Fledermaus'

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The casual buyer might be put off to hear about a 1949 radio broadcast from Berlin, but once cleaned up, this 'Fledermaus' sounds perfeclty fine, and more to the point, its high spirits are irresistible. Modern recordings of the operetta generally date from Clemens Krauss's Viennese account for Decca, also mono, in 1950. But this one under Fricsay is more fun and arguably better sung. The main characters are taken by superb soloists: Rita Streich as Adele, Anny Schlemm as Rosalinde, Helmut Krebs as Alfred, and Peter Anders as Eisenstein. Annaliese Mueller, in the pants role of the bored and decadent Russian aristocrat Orlovsky, is not quite on the same level but is more than satisfactory.



There's lots of German dialogue, yet unfortunately none of the reissues provide a translation. The latest remastering, on the German Audite label, probably has the best sound. It's the one I own, not this particular one here -- the performances are identical otherwise. I wish Anders didn't blare quite so loud; at forte he overloads the microphone. But Streich, as always, is incomparable in the accuracy of her coloratura, and the 22-year-old Schlemm is very appealing as a younger, more vulnerable Rosalinde than we usually hear. Krebs is the most stylish and lyrical Alfred I've ever heard.



But it's the obvious good humor and cheerfulness that make this recording so captivating. Fricsay has a lot to do with that. His conducting is alert and vivacious, barring a dull, slowish overture. The only Fledermaus that makes me laugh out loud is Carlos Kleiber's on DG, but this one provokes more smiles than any ohter rival."