Kerker: Die oberen Zehntausend, Burning To Sing or Singing To Burn

Griffiths, Howard, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover

CPO 777509

Gustave Kerker seems hardly to have existed at all, but his birth in 1847 is documented in the registry for Herford, East Westphalia. And when he died in 1923, the New York Times published a long article commemorating his life and work. Around 1900 Kerker was a genuine great in the world of the popular theater – but this is a fast-paced and forgetful world, especially on the memory superhighway that is America. It was thus that the search for clues leading to this native son of Herford (my place of residence for many years and apart from the baroque architect Pöppelmann not exactly blessed with famous names!) ended up involving years of groping in the dark. All the score materials for the present production now at long last being released were lucky finds and the result of endless e-mail correspondence with all sorts of libraries. But Westphalians are simply stubborn and persistent, and it is now – thanks to the firm commitment of the NDR to the unknown and following a highly acclaimed concert in Hanover – that I am finally able to announce the rebirth of one of the great names inspired by the light Muse! Musically quite audibly influenced by Arthur Sullivan (whose D’Oyly Carte Company often performed his music), Kerker wrote melodies of exceptional charm with just the right satiric bite and a finely elaborated orchestration. His greatest success, The Belle of New York, had a sensational run of seven hundred performances in London in 1898, and it went on to be performed on American, Australian, and European stages. It became the epitome of the American musical comedy – or »musical« for short. Kerker had achieved his breakthrough, and Berlin’s Metropol-Theater commissioned him to compose a German-language work: Die oberen Zehntausend (The Upper Ten Thousand). As the Hanover concert has demonstrated, Kerker’s captivating music has lost nothing of its charm and impact on the public.

CD x 2

CPO

26.11.12

761203750924