Gabrielle Heidelberger - Die Welt ist Operette! (2023)

This lavish production is dedicated to an often neglected genre, because anyone who belittles the operetta as opera's little sister because of its amusing plot, which mostly appears superficially, fails to recognize the deeper levels of meaning, which often only reveal themselves to be skilfully time-critical (and timeless) with knowledge of the historical context ) reveal social satires that come along in almost cabaret guise. Unfortunately, over time, the operetta was reinterpreted as a harmless forerunner of wine and homely Musikantenstadl entertainment. No wonder that high culture and criticism branded the operetta as a bastion of narrow-minded, reactionary healer-world romanticism and ignored it.

Understandable, but you were wrong! Operetta is subversive. Operetta is political. Operetta is erotic. Operetta is great! But only if you know how to use it. If you manage to boldly throw the ballast of the supposed tradition overboard. Going back to the true roots of the genre. And that's exactly what Manfred Müssauer has achieved with the Donau Philharmonie Wien: slim, transparent interpretations, freed from superfluous and annoying flourishes, devoid of any kitsch. But full musicality with real, often ambiguous feelings far away from any artificial sentimentality. The two soloists, Gabrielle Heidelberger and Armin Kolarczyk, prove to be the ideal cast for this project. With these recordings we are dealing with the rare stroke of luck that the art of singing is paired with a unique expressiveness and speech intelligibility; with wit, esprit and sly comedy; with eroticism and romance, but never without a wink at the right moment. Often you want to laugh and cry at the same time, but you can never remain listless.

On the CD you will find many of the best-known arias and duets by the great operetta masters, pieces by Strauss, Lehár, Kálmán, Millöcker, Zeller, Fall and Stolz, but also some rarely performed pearls of the genre.