Search - Christian Giglmayr, Florian Widmann, Thomas Zisterer :: Lehár: Eva

Revolutionary Lehar

Brett Farrell | Cape May, NJ USA | 06/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Franz Lehar's story of a pretty young factory worker who's the child of the whole factory staff. She eventually gets caught up in a world of Parisian vice and but eventually all is set to rights. It was a very modern story at the time (1911) and was considered an incendiary pro-socialism piece. Though it's really just a love story. The story's creation is likely very inspired by the success of such pieces like Puccini's `La Boheme' and Charpentier's `Louise'. The music is of course distinctly that of Lehar however.

The entire work is stunning and a treat to listen to. It's, as I just said earlier, very much of Lehar's style but not in the style of his more popular works. It has a more modern sound to it than Graf von Luxembourg or Lachlens. The music is also not as sprightly as other Lehar pieces.

The entire work is, despite its departure from traditional Lehar fare, a wonderful piece and a complete joy. Everybody performs perfectly and the sound quality is perfect as I now expect from CPO. There is dialogue but it's on separate tracks so it can be easily skipped. All in all a complete treat. But then I've never bought a Lehar operetta that I've regretted."