Waldemar Kmentt, tenor = Opera Arias, 1952-1956 – with Vienna Symphony Orchestra/ Heinrich Hollreiser, Wilhelm Loibner, and F. Charles Adler conducting – Preiser

by | Jan 4, 2008 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Waldemar Kmentt, tenor = Opera Arias, 1952-1956 – with Vienna Symphony Orchestra/ Heinrich Hollreiser, Wilhelm Loibner, and F. Charles Adler conducting

Preiser 93451, 79:55 (Distrib. Albany) ****:

Vienna-born tenor Waldemar Kmentt (b. 1929) enjoyed a fine career in his native Austria and at Bayreuth, often sharing the stage with fellow luminaries Anton Dermota, Ludwig Weber, and Hilde Gueden. He sang in Beethoven’s Ninth for both Bohm and Karajan, and he gained some note in the operas of Richard Strauss (Arabella), Pfitzner (Palestrina), and Wagner (Die Meistersinger) as a durable, light tenor whose range was perhaps not so extensive as those of Anders and Wunderlich, but whose natural buoyancy and warmth won him many admirers.

This Preiser collation of Kmentt’s work from the early-mid 1950’s captures his lyrical gifts in a broad repertory that embraces much of the same operas included in collections from Wunderlich and Bjoerling: Weber, Puccini, Donizetti, Ponchielli, Rimsky-Korsakov, Giordano, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Smetana, D’Albert, and Weinberger. Sung in German, the arias may lack the inflection a more polyglot performer would provide, but Rudolfo’s taking of Mimi’s hand in La Boheme and Nemorino’s A Furtive Glance from The Elixir of Love–likewise a staple of Peter Anders–still convey a direct sincerity, soft presence, and vocal flexibility of a solid, dramatic talent with a strong sustaining tone.  Kmentt packs a lovely diminuendo. Ponchielli’s Heaven and Sea in German remains a bit of an anomaly, but still eminently vocal and poised. One dark moment comes in Smetana’s The Kiss, at the opening of Hanno’s scene and arioso, which soon melts into a gorgeous serenade.

Kmentt’s Puccini takes in Cavaradossi and Dick Johnson, Rudolfo, Des Grieux, and the Calaf from Turandot. His Germanized Nessun Dorma possesses power and conviction, and his Lenski’s Aria from Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin will bear favorable comparison with that of Fritz Wunderlich, though a bit darker in color, more metallic in timbre. The recitative and cavatina of Vladimir from Borodin’s Prince Igor testifies to a variety of vocal timbres in Kmentt’s repertory, including a floated half-falsetto. Liquid incantation for the two excerpts from Sadko, the latter featuring the dusky mezzo-voce of the Hindu Song. Aside from the Polka and Fugue, we rarely hear musical excerpts from Schwanda the Bagpiper; but Kmentt gives us two, from Babinsky’s Ballade, Scene, and Arioso. Bearing a nervous similarity to music by Weill or Stravinsky, the martial patter of Ballade proves an effective vehicle for Kmentt. The final cut, from D’Albert’s Tiefland, pairs Kmentt with soprano Margarita Kenney, accompanied by conductor F. Charles Adler in rare operatic repertory.

— Gary Lemco
 

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