Composer: Leo Fall, Eduard Künneke, Franz Lehár, Albert Lortzing, Willy Mattes, Carl Millöcker, Mischa Spoliansky, Robert Stolz, Johann Strauss
Performer: Fritz Wunderlich
Orchestra: Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Conductor: Kurt Eichhorn, Siegfried Köhler, Willy Mattes, Hans Moltkau, Meinhard von Zallinger
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BR Klassik
Catalogue: 900315
Release: 2017
Size: 244 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
Millöcker: Die Dubarry
01. Wie schön ist alles
02. Mein Weg führt immer mich zu dir zurück
Lortzing: Zar und Zimmermann
03. Leb’ wohl, mein flandrisch Mädchen
Lortzing: Undine
04. Vater, Mutter, Schwestern, Brüder
Lortzing: Der Waffenschmied
05. Man wird ja nur einmal geboren
06. Lehár: Schön ist die Welt (From “Schön ist die Welt”)
CD 02
Strauss: Eine Nacht in Venedig
01. Treu sein, das liegt mir nicht
Fall: Die Rose von Stambul
02. O Rose von Stambul
Künneke: Die lockende Flamme
03. Ich träume mit offenen Augen
Künneke: Die Grosse Sünderin
04. Das Lied vom Leben des Schrenk
05. Stolz: Ob blond, ob braun (From “Ich liebe alle Frauen”)
06. Spoliansky: Heute Nacht oder nie! (From “Das Lied einer Nacht”)
07. Mattes: Melodia con passione
Although fifty years have now passed since Fritz Wunderlich’s tragic death on September 17, 1966, the singer and his incomparable tenor voice have remained unforgotten. One reason for this was the meteoric success of his artistic career. Following his performance in a student production of Mozart’s Magic Flute in Freiburg, the young singer was instantly engaged by the Stuttgart State Opera, then went on to Frankfurt and Munich, performed at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival, and had already received an offer from the New York Metropolitan Opera. What people remember most about him was his vital, lively personality, his almost limitless ability to cope under pressure, and of course his mellifluous voice, with its great depth, radiance, and delightful timbre. His accurate and always intelligible pronunciation of the words he sang has remained quite unparalleled. He performed operetta scenes with ease and charming levity; he bestowed the grace of genuine feeling onto lieder that had fallen into sentimental discredit; and he belted out party pieces with all the effortless verve of an Italian….
This new CD from BR-KLASSIK to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the singer’s death presents early, as yet unreleased radio recordings made between 1959 and 1965. The recordings of some Munich Sunday concerts and studio recordings by the Bayerischer Rundfunk show him and his tenor voice at the height of their success. Together with the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, he can be experienced singing with such renowned conductors as Kurt Eichhorn, Siegfried Köhler, Willy Mattes, Hans Moltkau and Meinhard von Zallinger.
Here he focused primarily on the German repertoire, from comic opera to operetta all the way to popular hits which, to this day, more or less owe their very survival to his interpretations of them in concerts and recordings.
Fritz Wunderlich – the tenor voice of the 20th century par excellence – can be relived here in these unreleased recordings from BR-KLASSIK.