Lehar: Wo die Lerche singt

Burkert, Marius, Chor des Lehár Festivals Bad Ischl, Franz Lehar-Orchester, soliści

CPO 777816

»Dear and famous maestro! I have your delightful new operetta Wo die Lerche singt and can only say: Bravo, master! Invigoratingly fresh, genial, full of youthful fire!« It was in 1919 that Giacomo Puccini wrote these lines to Franz Lehár, whom he had met six years before. The operetta concerns a young country girl (the title »Lark« Margit) who sits as a model for a painter, falls in love with him, for this reason leaves her fiancé, and follows the painter to the city, where she meets his real mistress, a chic salon serpent, and ends up realizing that she would be better off in the country. The appearance of the title figure Margit in itself represents an exception: she can be heard before she can be seen – to be specific, in the form of a magnificent a cappella coloratura not only establishing her role as that of nature's child but also representing »one of the greatest song roles ever written by an operetta composer« – as the Vienna critic Ludwig Karpath wrote at the time The grand finale of Act I with the palotas of the harvest chorus ranks with the most electrifying music ever penned by this master. Our production occurred in conjunction with last year's wonderful performances of this operetta in Bad Ischl, which represent yet another magnificent milestone in our many years of cooperation with the Lehár Festival and its director Michael Lakner.

CD

18.08.2014

761203781621