| The name of this
fine ensemble...is Alt-Wiener Strauss-Ensemble. The band specializes in
the music of Vienna, but its actual home is Stuttgart. Violinist-conductor-arranger
Arthur Kulling founded the group of 12 players in 1972, approximating the
size and sound of the elder Johann Strauss’s Viennese dance band. In 2001,
Arthur’s son Ralph, also a violinist and conductor, became leader. The
instruments consist of three violins, two horns, and one each of viola,
cello, double bass, flute (or piccolo), oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Edition
Hera is the band’s proprietary label...
“Invitation to the Dance” presents us with a...diverse program. We have works by eight composers: Johann Strauss I and his three sons, plus four composers whose lives collectively span almost 160 years, yet belonged to the epoch of European Romantic music in which the Strauss family flourished. The players of the Old Vienna Strauss Ensemble are also involved with the Stuttgart State Opera, where the mezzo-soprano Maria Theresa Ullrich sings. Her rich and supple voice makes her four contributions high points of this fine recording. The Csárdás from Fledermaus is not the familiar one, but a second setting composed late in life by Johann II to oblige the mezzo Marie Renard. The other selections
may also be unfamiliar to many listeners. That being the case, Hera should
have printed texts and short synopses. Indeed, Hera identifies the aria
from Cenerentola simply as “aria of Cenerentola.” “I was born to anguish
and tears” is in the final scene, when anguish and tears are firmly in
the past. But Cenerentola reflects briefly on her miserable years before
rejoicing in her good fortune and—I was astonished by this when I first
encountered the opera—she insists on forgiving her step-sisters and step-father
and drawing them into her new royal family. The torchy ballad from Franz
Lehar’s Giuditta, “My lips they kiss so passionately,” also begs for explanation.
Giuditta is no ordinary operetta, but rather a bittersweet love story in
which the primary lovers are losers. The musical language is that of late
19th-century Viennese musical theater, but the length and
complexity of the work
place it closer to the world of grand opera in its verismo phase. Finally,
“Cruda sorte!” (“Cruel fate!”) is Isabella’s first aria in L’italiana in
Algeri. She has just survived a shipwreck on the north coast of Africa,
and observes the corsairs heading in her direction. This is a comic opera,
but the Italian girl sings as if she does not yet know about
Robert McColley, FANFARE (kompletter Artikel) |