Rosen aus Florida on CD (Korngold-Leo Fall)

[brendangcarroll]

The world premiere recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's charming completion of the Leo Fall operetta ROSEN aus FLORIDA (1928) will be released by the CD company Rondeau (in Leipzig, Germany) next week!

[Alan Howe]

Details here:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/leo-fall-rosen-aus-florida/hnum/9728733

[brendangcarroll]

Amazon in Germany is lsting it too, with the CD cover and Jewl Case details:

https://www.amazon.de/Florida-Musikalische-Komodie-Leipzig-Klingele/dp/B084WPJW8X/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=1ENSLIGOZ79O8&keywords=rosen+aus+florida+cd&qid=1582728252&sprefix=rosen+aus+florida%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-1

The cover art is taken from the very rare first edition original score from 1929.

I am not sure when this disc will be available in the UK or USA.

~ BRENDAN CARROLL

[Alan Howe]

Wonder whether it'll be as glamorously sung as this, by the sublime Gundula Janowitz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkqdjdIRZyo

[brendangcarroll]

Hmmm - I rather doubt it but then, a Janowitz comes along once in a century!
(That's my recording that I found in the back of a cupboard in the Austrian Radio Archives about 40 years ago!  Thanks for posting the link)

[Alan Howe]

The problem for me is a very simple one: an opera (or operetta) must always be well sung if it is to be perpetuated in a recording. I may occasionally purchase a recording just to find out what an unfamiliar opera is like; however, I increasingly find that I won't listen to it again if it is inadequately sung. A case in point was cpo's recent release of Tasca's 'A Santa Lucia' which is of marginal interest anyway, meaning that it needs all the help it can get from the performers. Unfortunately that's not what it got.

All of which is a round about way of saying that I won't be buying 'Rosen aus Florida' unless it's superbly done.

[brendangcarroll]

I agree that one hopes that rare operas will be superbly sung. Unfortunately, with a work like Rosen as Florida, this is probably the only chance of hearing the score. I have to weigh any disappointments in the performance with being finally able to evaluate the score and Korngold's orchestration.

[Alan Howe]

I completely understand why you in particular would want to do that. For me the work is of interest, but only if well enough performed.

[BerlinExpat]

You can judge from an excerpt I've posted in the downloads section. It's from Act 2 which is almost all Korngold. If I remember correctly from the broadcast Leo Fall only left sketches for Act 1 and the rest is really pure Korngold.
I agree with you Brendan, I am delighted that there are groups out there willing to undertake such projects. A great deal of effort and dedication goes into them and I am grateful to them for presenting us with these unique opportunities. I have seen dozens of these rarities over the years which would never see the light of day if we waited for the best singers to deign to partake in them.

[Alan Howe]

I have seen dozens of these rarities over the years which would never see the light of day if we waited for the best singers to deign to partake in them.

That is true, of course. However, in the modern era the ratio of good recorded performances of opera to bad is much lower than in the past. This is largely to do with the cost of bringing together top-rated singers to make recordings; the result is that most operatic recordings these days are based on or are actual recordings of live performances in which casting is often acceptable when heard once in the flesh, but totally unsuitable for repeated listening. This is simply fact, I'm afraid.

Unsung repertoire in other fields, e.g. orchestral and chamber/instrumental, doesn't suffer to anything like the same degree, although comparison of, for example, Oramo's superlative Norman 3 with the very rough-and-ready recording on Sterling does point up the fact that sub-par recordings are sometimes issued even in these categories. However, to make a good operatic recording requires far more effort: just turning up and recording a live performance may give us the chance to hear something unusual, but thereafter repeated listening (in my experience) is rarely a pleasure.

[Alan Howe]

Genuinely grateful though I am to hear the lovely excerpt, I'm not sure how many times I'd want to listen to the soprano who loses control of her voice in its highest register when she needs to soar effortlessly. The tenor is much better, thankfully.

Very beautiful music - wonderful in fact. But we'd need a better soprano to make a really good recording.

[Alan Howe]

Judging by the excerpts at Presto, this isn't very well sung overall. Not a patch on the many classic operetta recordings of the past. I'll leave this to others to enjoy.