UPC/Barcode: 812864017465

This production of Emmerich K lm n's Die Cs rd sf rstin (The Gypsy Princess) is part of a series of recorded operettas presented by Seefestspiele M rbisch, or in English, The M rbisch Lake Festival, on the Oehms Classics label. M rbisch 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 still can see the value of recording the productions for the benefit of attracting still more patrons. Judging from this 2002 recording of Die Cs rd sf rstin, made in a studio environment, the standards of musical performance at M rbisch Lake are high indeed and could hold pride of place, comparatively, with those at Bayreuth, if not exceed them altogether. The singing is all around very good; there are no stand-alone performances among the cast, but as a whole, they work together well and don't get in each other's way. In order to get Die Cs rd sf rstin onto a single disc, there is some subtle trimming of the score as recorded, yet it doesn't remove anything essential and keeps the work running at a good clip -- a few lines of dialogue are kept in order to maintain progression of the plot. The Festival Orchestra M rbisch under Rudolph Bibl is a bit scrappy in the fast music, yet some scrappiness does not at all hurt Die Cs rd sf rstin and this may, at least in part, be intentional. Throughout Die Cs rd sf rstin the band maintains a nice rhythmic energy and good sense of color. 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. The fortunes of Die Cs rd sf rstin seem to be looking up these days -- this is the second recording of the work to come up in a month's time. It's good to have choices, and for Die Cs rd sf rstin this Oehms Classics disc is as good a choice as one could want.