Südwestrundfunk radio (SWR) is still putting out previously-unreleased material from the famous German tenor Fritz Wunderlich, who sang a vast repertoire running from baroque to Mozart, via romantic opera, operetta and popular song. At least two facets of this new volume are positively enchanting. The first is the pure pleasure of listening to brand-new releases, and the second is the discovery of a little-known repertoire from Mozart's contemporaries. Although their proximity with Alessandro Scarlatti and Handel is a little anachronistic, these are after all presented as bonus material. Recorded between 1957 and 1962 during the great Mozartian tenor's short career, these recordings, made with two different orchestras led by three different conductors, alternate between tender and heroic arias from the operas of Ignaz Holzbauer, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Giovanni Paisiello, Vincenzo Righini and Luigi Cherubini, finishing with Handel's famous "Largo", the aria Ombra mai fù, taken from his opera Serse.
This new album brings us Wunderlich's very special timbre, a mix of clarity and nasality, with a natural ease which fits this repertoire like a glove. What's more, it offers us the joy of rediscovering, in several duets, the beautiful coloratura voice of Belgian soprano Elisabeth Verlooy who had an honourable career in opera and light operetta. © François Hudry/Qobuz