There has never been a Fledermaus like this! At once musically and sonically daring, arrogant, delicious, delirious, sexy, stupendous, pretentious and overbearing, it was the perfect vehicle for demonstrating the vast new potential of stereo and the surging magnificence of Decca in 1960. Almost a half century later, it has become the perfect Fledermaus for a new age of consumers similarly crying out for demonstrations of how gratifyingly powerful and irresistible technology serves their every need and pleasure. From start to finish, and including the 36 minutes of preposterously enjoyable “gala” performances by headline Decca singers of the time, even the famed three-quarter-time numbers seem to go in exhilarating double time.
And the reissue has done the original proud, only an ironic misspelling of legendary producer John Culshaw’s name in the program booklet marring the presentation. In fact, this Fledermaus, recorded in the great Sofiensaal of Vienna, which was Decca’s recording venue for Solti’s Ring of the Nibelungen and many other fabulous recordings, choral and orchestral as well as operatic, was a key to establishing Culshaw’s reputation as the most brilliant and revolutionary opera producer of his time, from his aggressive use of Decca’s wide dynamic range and musical punch to his willingness to use then-unconventional sound effects to further the music’s dramatic effect.
This Fledermaus also finds Herbert von Karajan, with Decca, at the height of the most successful phase of his recording career, positioned between the sonically magnificent but musically hesitant work of his EMI days and the decadently sumptuous work he would do for DG beginning just a few years later. Somehow, Decca seemed to curb Karajan’s mid 50s timidity and give him the courage to put his extraordinary musical gifts as completely as he could at the service of the music.
The cast is near perfect, too, headlined by Hilde Gueden at her silky, seductive best as Rosalinde, and Waldemar Kmentt whose heroically virile Eisenstein makes the whole joke worth falling for, as it was – over and over again until the grooves were worn out when the set was first released. The rest of the cast is at a similar level, including Erika Köth as a virtuosically chirpy, fun-loving Adele, and Regina Resnik a sensual, corrupt Orlofsky.
And, of course, the original Gala solos have been included: Expected turns like Puccini queen Renata Tebaldi singing Lehar mixed with unexpected ones like Wagnerian heroine Birgit Nilsson singing “I could have danced all night” and Giulietta Simionato and Ettore Bastianini teaming up to sing “Anything you can do.”
Best of all, the 96k, 24-bit remastering has managed to tame the fierce highs of the original without losing the heady thrills they provided, while Decca’s legendary deep, dynamic bass sounds more impressive than ever. The set now takes and majestically thrives on the volume that few analogue systems were able to handle in 1960, and for many years after. As it was always meant to, it both excels in sheer musical excitement and allows you to hear just how good your sound system can be – never mind it’s 47 years old!
– Laurence Vittes
