A joyous romp to marvelous music
F. Behrens | Keene, NH USA | 10/27/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Generally I dislike "live" performance recordings because of audience noises and poor sound. However, decidedly gaining from the presence of an audience and an actual performance is a wonderful 1960 (74321 61949 2. Even more than Karajan's studio production of this work for London Records, this performance sparkles like the beverage it was written to celebrate; and the cast and audience seem to be having such a great time that you must too. Of course that horrible third act is quite impossible even for those who can understand the German dialogue (no libretto provided to help you out); so your best bet is to start with Adele's song halfway through. You might also want to program out the "New Year's Eve" guest appearances that have become traditional in Vienna, but not the superbly played dance music that follows. These additions do, however, necessitate spreading the work over 3 CDs. The cast includes Eberhard Waechter, Hilde Guden, Rita Streich, Eric Kunz, and Guiseppi Zampieri. It might have been traditional back then to give Orlofsky to a tenor and Gerhard Stolze, a noted character-singer, is fine. But one misses a mezzo here. Nevertheless, this is a Fledermaus that flies!"