Recording
Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Konstanze: Anneliese Rothenberger
Blonde: Renate Holm
Belmonte: Fritz Wunderlich
Pedrillo: Eugenio Valori
Osmin: Kurt Böhme
Pasha Selim: Victor Parlaghy
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Colón
Heinz Wallberg, conductor
Myto (distributed by Qualiton Imports) 2 MCD 021.241 (2 CDs)
Fritz Wunderlich fans will want this previously unreleased live performance of 8 September 1961 at the Teatro Colón, dating some four years before the tenor's studio recording under Eugen Jochum for Deutsche Grammophon (and featuring one other member of this cast, Kurt Böhme). The sound on the Myto set is generally of excellent monaural broadcast quality, the orchestra clear and forward, instrumental timbres distinct, voices vividly miked, with virtually no distortion on high notes and only the occasional light fading of signal or (in the case of Blonde's first aria) minuscule tape break; "Martern aller Arten" alone is unfortunately marred by some light airwave hiss, but, given the consistently clean quality of the rest, one can tolerate it. The stage noise and audience laughter are unobtrusive, adding just the right atmosphere to the proceedings. Applause is retained, and the (conventionally trimmed) spoken dialogue is clearly recorded and delivered in a genuinely entertaining fashion, making this set a model of its kind; not long into listening, it becomes obvious that this is a live performance that merits preservation for the pleasure of not only Wunderlich fans but lovers of Mozart and fine singing in general. Heinz Wallberg's conducting is tautly paced but never rushed, allowing the singers enough freedom to savor their music and make it speak from the heart; the orchestra responds admirably.
Wunderlich, whose picture graces the booklet cover, is of course this set's main attraction, and the great Mozart tenor is captured here in absolutely top [End Page 108] form, which is to say, in achingly gorgeous voice. The roundness and warmth of his timbre, the elegance of his phrasing, the cleanness of his divisions, the shapeliness of his legato, the utter clarity of his diction, and the overall poetry of his interpretation are better captured here, I think, than in his comparatively prosaic reading on the stereo DG set. It is a pity that Belmonte's third-act aria ("Ich baue ganz") is omitted in the Buenos Aires performance; as was general practice at the time, the second act's "Wenn der Freude" is repositioned and sung in its place. 1 In the latter, Wunderlich is heard to sing an appoggiatura, nonexistent on the DG studio version. Other refinements heard here but not under Jochum's less flexible baton on the commercial set include some graceful rubati and mezza voce effects on certain phrases in "O wie ängstlich," and a lovely messa di voce on the long-held F (on "die We--lt") in the love duet.
Another valid reason to acquire this release is Böhme's delightful performance as Osmin. His short-tempered overseer here sounds genuinely vexed by the interloper Belmonte's questions in their first-act sparring duet, and the unbottled sarcasm he directs toward Pedrillo in "Solche hergelaufne Laffen" makes his ensuing tantrum ("Erst geköpft, dann gehangen") seem all the more inevitable. This Osmin is ultimately more endearing than menacing, and one can sense the audience's affection for him, even in "Ha! wie will ich triumphieren," where Böhme resorts to barking the lowest phrases up an octave when his voice won't obey in the heat of performance (he has problems here in the DG set, too, where his bass loses tonal body below the staff). Considering this limitation, not to mention the laughs and grunts with which he often "embellishes" his lines, Böhme's singing throughout remains remarkably artistic and rhythmically exemplary. Those familiar only with his unremittingly gruff approach on the DG set will be amazed at how much more rounded and musical an interpretation he gives under Wallberg.
Anneliese Rothenberger's Konstanze is a joy to hear, even if the upper stretches of her florid arias taxed her limpid soprano a certain degree on this particular occasion, and Renate Holm's Blonde is as ably and idiomatically sung as any on disc. Myto provides convenient tracking, keeping the musical numbers and spoken dialogue separate. The accompanying booklet provides the libretto in German (for the musical numbers only, not the dialogue) and an essay with some sketchy biographical information on the singers, of whom probably only the Pedrillo, the Polish emigrant Eugenio Valori, will be new to Entführung collectors.
Six bonus tracks at the end of the second CD allow us to hear the
twenty-four-year-old Wunderlich in six songs by the medieval Swiss
composer Ludwig Senfl (c.1490-1543). Alas, Myto's booklet essay
offers no information about these selections other than to list
incipits, the identities of the string-trio accompanists, and the date
and city of the performance ("27.10.1954 Freiburg"). Thus, it would
appear that these items were recorded during the young tenor's student
days at the Freiburg Musikhochschule. The voice has not yet acquired the
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burnished, sensual tone of the mature Wunderlich, but it is interesting
to hear how gamely it negotiates the rather frequent descents below
the staff.
E. Thomas Glasow
E. Thomas Glasow, editor, The Opera Quarterly; translator; contributor to Opera News
Note
1. "Ich baue ganz" is duly performed by Wunderlich on the complete 1965 DG studio Entführung.
