Recording of the Week, Operette from Diana Damrau

In 2022 it was Diana Damrau’s turn to deliver the Christmas goods in the form of a classy double-album of carols and seasonal art-songs; this year the effervescent German soprano seems to be looking forward a week, with a feast of operetta excerpts which would sit just beautifully at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s New Year’s Eve gala or in Vienna the morning after…

Don’t expect anything so mainstream as Die Fledermaus or Die lustige Witwe here. Damrau has enlisted the services of her friend Elke Kottmair (an alumna of the Dresden State Operetta) to unearth some forgotten gems including lesser-spotted Lehár and Kálmán plus rarities by Oscar Straus, Henri Christiné and Francis Lopez; the latter two were entirely new names to me, and I’m thoroughly delighted to have made their acquaintance. The result is a whistle-stop tour through seven decades of operetta history, taking in Vienna, Paris and Berlin along the way and featuring a couple of starry cameos which complement the leading lady’s dazzling vocalism and ready wit to perfection.

We begin with ‘Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein’ from Robert Stolz’s Der Favorit, which opens with the first of many eloquent solos from the Münchner Rundfunkorchester’s concertmaster, sounding for all the world as if Vaughan Williams’s Lark has taken flight to the countryside around Berlin. Damrau enters with a smile in the voice which remains in place for almost the entire programme, and the music ebbs and flows deliciously under the baton of seasoned operetta veteran Ernst Theis.

Sweeping waltz-songs from Paul Lincke’s Frau Luna and Lehár’s Das Fabriksmädel follow, before Jonas Kaufmann makes the first of three suave guest-appearances in the peppy little ‘Flirt-Duett’ from Das Lied der Liebe: Korngold’s 1932 operetta on themes from Johann Strauss’s Das Spitzentuch der Königin written as a vehicle for Richard Tauber and incorporating new dance-forms from the jazz age alongside those ubiquitous waltzes. Damrau and Kaufmann have an easy chemistry which comes even more strongly to the fore in a genuinely sexy account of ‘Im Chambre séparée’ from Heuberger’s Der Opernball, ending on a suggestive little in-breath as the two lovers slip away from the party to Find Somewhere Quieter…

Cuban-American mezzo Emily Sierra (a recent Operalia finalist) makes a lovely appearance in a lyrical duet from Das Spitzentuch itself, her rich contralto-ish timbre offsetting Damrau’s crystalline soprano quite beautifully, and the gorgeous pastoral paean to the nightingale from Messager’s Monsieur Beaucaire which follows could easily stand as a tribute to Damrau’s own artistry with its references to clear-voiced trills of joy.

Other highlights include an uproarious Spanish-inflected drinking-song from Lopez’s Andalousie (the beverage of choice here being sangria rather than the usual champagne) and a rumbustious account of ‘Hör´ich Cymbalklänge’ from Lehár’s Zigeunerliebe – shades of the disguised Rosalinde’s Csardas from Die Fledermaus here, which Damrau will sing for the first time in Barrie Kosky’s new production in Munich over the holiday period.

The big surprise, though, is a rather edgier number from Paul Abraham’s 1932 jazz-operetta Ball im Savoy (closed down in its prime after Hitler became chancellor because its creators were Jewish): here Damrau summons a gravelly chest-voice worthy of Lotte Lenya as the heroine Madeleine warns that her heart is firmly off-limits. And I loved the sassy takedown of men who claim to prefer ‘the natural look’ yet reliably have their heads turned by an impeccably-groomed woman from Henri Christiné’s Phi-Phi (1918): delivered with insouciance by Damrau, it even includes a namecheck for Rimmel!

My only caveat about this delectable recording concerns the supporting documentation: no translations are provided, and there’s very little information regarding the plot or backstory of the individual operettas. But perhaps it doesn’t matter hugely, especially as Damrau does such a brilliant job of capturing the mood and character of each number: this is the perfect album with which to welcome the New Year when the time comes, so pour a glass of something as sparkling as the performances and prepare to have your spirits lifted.