This production of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus is a part of a series of recorded operettas presented by Seefestspiele Mörbisch, or, in English, the Mörbisch Lake Festival, on the Oehms Classics label. Mörbisch Lake is a picaresque Austrian town near the Hungarian border that hosts an annual operetta festival in an open-air amphitheater capable of seating 6,000 operetta lovers. The festival, under the artistic direction of
Harald Serafin, is swiftly becoming the Bayreuth of the operetta world, attracting some 200,000 visitors annually, but the promoters still can see the value of recording their productions for the benefit of attracting still more patrons
Of course, Die Fledermaus is a monster in the world of operetta and many complete recordings have been made of it, the earliest one dating from 1907. This one was made in 1996 and, of the recent program of the Seefestspiele Mörbisch in seven operettas issued by Oehms Classics, this is the only recording that was made as a stand-alone project; at one time it was available on the super-budget Arte Nova label. Oddly, this is the only operetta out of the series where Festival Orchestra Mörbisch under
Rudolph Bibl isn't playing quite up their usual crisp standard: they sound a bit like the
Cincinnati Symphony in a summer concert when all the best players are on vacation. But it doesn't really matter, as the rest of the performance is quite good, and when the band sticks to backing up the singers, it sounds fine. Soprano Ute Gfrerer in the part of Adele deserves singling out owing to her superb delivery of the "Laughing Song," otherwise it is an engaging and serviceable performance of Die Fledermaus that captures one's attention and keeps it. The recorded sound is clear, direct, and immediate. The booklet contains no more than a summary of the plot in English, although this is standard for most operetta recordings. Of course, only a few dollars more will get you the famous recording of Die Fledermaus made in 1976 under
Carlos Kleiber. But for those of us on a budget, this Seefestspiele Mörbisch performance is perfectly adequate.