Wunderlich, Fritz: Romantic Arias
2017
Albert Lortzing
Bedrich Smetana
Giacomo Puccini
Giuseppe Verdi
Otto Nicolai
Peter Cornelius
Wilhelm Kienzl
Fritz Wunderlich
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
Alfons Rischner
Rundfunkorchester des Südwestfunks
Emmerich Smola
Hans Müller-Kray
Otto Nicolai: Horch, die Lerche singt im Hain (from: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor)
Albert Lortzing: Man wird ja nur einmal geboren (from: Der Waffenschmied)
Albert Lortzing: War einst ein junger Springinsfeld (from: Der Waffenschmied)
Albert Lortzing: Ich ritt zum großen Waffenspiele (from: Undine)
Albert Lortzing: Vater, Mutter, Schwestern, Brüder (from: Undine)
Peter Cornelius: Mein Sohn, sei Allahs Friede hier auf Erden (from: Der Barbier von Bagdad)
Giuseppe Verdi: Der Welt entsag ich – Nie werd ich den Tag vergessen – Gott, du hast in unsere S (from: Don Carlos)
Giuseppe Verdi: La donna è mobile (from: Rigoletto)
Bedrich Smetana: Komm, mein Söhnchen, auf ein Wort (from: Die verkaufte Braut)
Wilhelm Kienzl: Lug, Dursel, lug – Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz (from: Der Kuhreigen)
Giacomo Puccini: Und es blitzen die Sterne (from: Tosca)
A unique collection of both famous and unknown Romantic arias, performed by Fritz Wunderlich. The accompanying booklet provides rare photos of Fritz Wunderlich and an imprint of a letter. Includes the sound engineer’s account of the complete remastering process of the original Wunderlich tapes.
The outstanding remastering of these tapes makes Fritz Wunderlich’s voice sound fresh and radiant. This is the latest installment in the 10-volume SWR Wunderlich series. It covers all aspects of his repertoire, from popular songs to operettas, older music to 20th-century works.
It's well known that Fritz Wunderlich was an exceptional singer, yet it never fails to surprise when hearing him singing works from different genres and discovering how he developed from his early performances in 1953 to the opera arias he preferred later in his career. These are now brought together on this album that contains both famous and unknown arias.
Fritz Wunderlich was both a gifted singer and actor, which made him a perfect match for the Spieloper (dramatic opera), a genre to which most of the works on this CD belong. Albert Lortzing (1801 – 1851) was a leading representative of this genre; also Otto Nicolai (1810 – 1849) and Peter Cornelius (1824 – 1874).
With his remarkable voice, Fritz Wunderlich could also sing Italian opera, in which he tried to establish himself with one of the biggest tenor hits of all time: the canzone La donna è mobile, sung by the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto. While the performance may not sound thoroughly idiomatic, it's pure Wunderlich. And E lucevan le stelle certainly provides a goose bumps moment for everyone.
The SWR spared no effort in re-mastering the original tapes to make the voice of Fritz Wunderlich sound fresh and radiant. The sound engineers explain the complete remastering process in the accompanying booklet.
Both this release and all future volumes of the SWR Fritz Wunderlich series contain recordings the singer made for the company from which the broadcasting company SWR grew. They are available in this compilation only in this SWR series.
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