Diana Damrau (soprano), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor); Munich Radio Orchestra/Ernst Theis
Erato 5419782798 58:32 mins
No merry widows here; no student princes and only a hint of a gypsy baron. Diana Damrau’s foray into operetta from Johann Strauss II to the Jazz operettas of the 1920’s and ’30s follows an unfamiliar path in 3/4 time with numbers by Kalman and Lehár waltzing alongside music by André Messager, Paul Abraham and Henri Christiné.
Ever the intelligent artist, Damrau knows how to lighten the voice to create that distinctive soprano sound demanded by operetta – a light sparkling tone, spiralling coloratura and the storytelling that is the sine qua non of a good chanson style. In ‘Warum hast du mich wach geküsst?’ from Lehár’s operetta biography of Goethe she elegantly unwraps the feelings of a woman who knows that the poet needs a career not a partner. In Robert Stolz’s duet from Im Weissen Rössl with the expert assistance of Jonas Kaufmann, she reminds us that operetta is fuelled by the erotic quite as much as nostalgia and turning social norms on their head.
Kaufmann actually only partners Damrau on three tracks but is a revelation. There’s character singing of the highest quality in ‘Im Chambre séparée’ from Richard Heuberger’s Der Opernball, an elegant waltz duet that teases both the characters and the audience with mistaken identities. It’s a pity that there’s no word about often unfamiliar operettas or composers in the accompanying booklet.
And why no translations of the sung texts? Yes, you can find them on the Erato website, but it’s an awkward journey. Yet when Damrau ends her recital with a barnstorming ‘I’m a woman who knows what she wants’ from Oscar Straus’s Manon, you all but forgive such solecisms.