Strauss II: Blindekuh (Live) Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus & Dario Salvi
Album info
Album-Release:
2020
HRA-Release:
27.03.2020
Label: Naxos
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
Artist: Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus & Dario Salvi
Composer: Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Album including Album cover Booklet (PDF)
- Johann Strauss II (1825 - 1899): Blindekuh:
- 1 Overture (Live) 09:23
- Act I:
- 2 Act I: Welch' buntes Leben wird (Live) 02:46
- 3 Act I: Es kommt ein Wagen an (Live) 04:03
- 4 Act I: Ich bin Gourmand, ja ich gestehe (Live) 02:15
- 5 Act I: Ein holder Frühlingsmorgen (Live) 04:15
- 6 Act I: Die Schwiegermutter zu gewinnen (Live) 03:25
- 7 Act I: Die Eisenbahnen weit und breit (Live) 03:27
- 8 Act I: Ha! Ha! Ha! Was soll dies Lachen? (Live) 03:59
- 9 Act I: Ha! Ha! Ha! Traurige, schaurige Situation (Live) 16:12
- Act II:
- 10 Act II: Duftige Blumen laßt uns binden Tulpen (Live) 01:37
- 11 Act II: Wie sprießt so frisch das Laub am Baume (Live) 02:49
- 12 Act II: Ein Fremder kommt! (Live) 03:55
- 13 Act II: Sie lachen über mich, das find ich unmanierlich! (Live) 02:59
- 14 Act II: Jung und schön, von edlem Wuchse (Live) 04:36
- 15 Act II: Eheglück und Flitterwochen (Live) 02:57
- 16 Act II: Ja, endlich find’ ich sie allein! (Live) 05:31
- 17 Act II: Ja, ja, nur zu, nur zu, wir spielen Blindekuh (Live) 13:45
- Act III:
- 18 Act III: Welche Luft, bei diesen Klängen (Live) 02:04
- 19 Act III: O Elvira! Teure Braut! (Live) 04:42
- 20 Act III: Beim spazieren amüsieren wir uns sehr (Live) 04:37
- 21 Act III: Küssen mag’ ich gar nicht gern (Live) 02:16
- 22 Act III: Ja, warum habt Ihr denn Alles gethan? (Live) 03:10
Info for Strauss II: Blindekuh (Live)
Blindekuh (‘Blind Man’s Buff’) was Johann Strauss II’s sixth operetta and his least known. Neglected for well over a century, it was revived by Dario Salvi and the forces on this album in January 2019. The work’s initial lack of success is hard to explain but it may have been caused by a confusing libretto—the music itself is vibrant and captivating with waltzes, polkas, mazurkas, marches and bel canto arias. Performed in a concert version without dialogue, and in accordance with performing traditions, this production restores the work to the status of one of Strauss’s most melodically seductive works.
History would tell us that the younger Johann Strauss composed three of the world’s most popular operettas together with a sizeable catalogue of total failures.
"There has been the easy explanation that he chose his libretti foolishly as he had no theatrical instincts, which is only partially true, though the 1878 score for Blindekuh, with its reliance on a most improbable series of mistaken identities, is musically very attractive It was a quite extended work that had just 16 performances in Vienna and several in Hungary before it descended into total oblivion. So now with many thanks to the musicologist and conductor, Dario Salvi, 140 years later we have its first revival in modern times with a concert version presented in the Bulgarian city of Sofia in January 2019. Omitting the dialogue, but included all of the music, it takes up two well-filled CDs, Strauss having lavished a profusion of pleasing vocal passages and catchy dance episodes, some of them recycled in his later works. I am not going to try to unravel the story where Waldine, the young daughter of a wealthy land owner, is waiting to meet the young man to whom she has been promised in marriage, but has never seen. He is now about to arrive from his native America, and you can begin to guess the confusion that can follow, particularly when a game of Blindekuh (Bind Man’s Buff) is introduced for the guests in the second act party. I guess it was even more difficult to unravel in the original theatre presentation as identities kept on changing, The cast in Sofia was international with the nine singers for the solo roles arriving from the United States, Germany, England, Italy and Austria, but they perform with an instinctive feel for the Viennese operetta tradition. Maybe Dario Salvi could have added a notch more momentum to the overture, but the Sofia orchestra and chorus respond admirably to his conducting. The sound quality in this ‘live’ recording is well balanced between orchestra and chorus, and as your critic began his record reviewing career, very many decades ago, with a disc of Johann Strauss, I am delighted to commend this World Premiere release to you." (David’s Review Corner)
Robert Davidson, bass-baritone
Kirsten C. Kunkle, soprano
Boyan Vasilev, tenor
Peter Petrov, bass
Snezhina Kumanova, contralto
Julian Rohde, tenor
Martina Bortolotti, soprano
Emily K. Byrne, mezzo-soprano
Roman Pichler, tenor
Daniel Schliewa, tenor
James Bowers, tenor
Andrea Chudak, soprano
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Sofia Philharmonic Chorus
Dario Salvi, conductor
Dario Salvi
is a British-Italian conductor, researcher and musicologist. He is widely regarded as a fast-rising name in opera and operetta, and is known for his expressive gestures and precision of style.
A specialist in the restoration, recording and performance of rare Viennese works, comic opera, ballet and orchestral music—particularly the works of the Strauss family and their contemporaries such as Czibulka, Ziehrer, Suppè, Millöcker, Genèe, Kàlmàn and Mont—he is a busy recording artist with Naxos, and has completed projects documenting forgotten works by J. Strauss II, Auber, Meyerbeer, Humperdinck and more. He has been awarded a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain for his extensive contribution to Viennese music.
Salvi has guest conducted and recorded opera and operetta across the USA, the Middle East and Europe, including the closing concerts of the Zagreb Philharmonic’s 2018/19 Season, for which he received outstanding reviews:
‘[Salvi] is certainly the most astonishing phenomenon that has emerged recently with us. A real ballet master of the conductor’s baton, with big gestures, very expressive, sometimes with theatrical mimicry in communication with the orchestra, he was excellent in transferring his ideas to the orchestra. And these ideas were clearly dictated by his own taste, but also closely to the taste of the audience.’ (Jutarnji list, Croatia, 2019)
Other recent performance highlights include: his work with Willy Bietak Productions as music director and consultant on an opera ice skating show, commissioned by Royal Opera House Muscat in 2018; concerts with Katia Guerreiro, one of the world’s leading Fado singers, and the Zagreb Philharmonic; and his guest performances for the closing of Winter Opera St Louis’ 2019/20 Season, “La Fanciulla del West”.
Maestro Salvi is guest conductor and partner of Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra in New York, and principal guest conductor for Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia. He has worked, amongst others, with Prague Philharmonia (CZ), Czech Chamber Orchestra (CZ), Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus (BG), Malmö Opera (SE), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (CZ), Neue Preußische Philharmonie (DE), Orchestra Al Chiaro di Luna (IT) and Ruse State Opera (BG). He has also worked with singers such as Markus Werba, Jorge Pita Carreras, Andrea Chudak, Gaia Petrone, Francisco Brito and Ira Lauren.
Born in Northern Italy and currently residing in Scotland, Salvi has received musical training in both Italy and the UK. After studying soprano saxophone with S. Cecilia Philharmonia, he became an in-demand saxophonist and alto clarinet player and worked with many bands as a performer and arranger, also holding the position of Director of Music in the Alpine Troops of the Italian Army. He is a professional bass guitarist and has toured the world playing for bands and orchestras. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Psychology from the University of Derby (UK) in 2011, followed by a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2012 under the tutelage of Sharon Choa (currently Chair of the School of Music at the HK Academy of Performing Arts). During this time, he worked as Assistant Conductor and Arranger for Chamber Orchestra Anglia and founded the Imperial Vienna Orchestra, specialising in the authentic reproduction of Viennese music.
Salvi has published three books on Viennese operetta on Cambridge Scholars Publishing, and his musical arrangements are available on Musica Mundana, DaVinci Publishing and Marcato Brass. His orchestral arrangements, including opera and ballet, have been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Moscow State Symphony Orchestra (RU), Düsseldorf Symphoniker (DE), Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (US), The Salvation Army Orchestra (UK) and the Original C.M. Ziehrer Orchester (AT).
Booklet for Strauss II: Blindekuh (Live)