Live on Stage ~ Fritz Wunderlich

There aren't many artists about whom it could be said that the public wants every note they ever performed, but Fritz wunderlich was one. Although he died in a tragic accident, falling from a staircase in a hunting lodge a few days before his thirty-sixth birthday, Wunderlich was prolific in the studio, enough so that by any reasonable measure we have enough of a legacy. But that voice! One can be forgiven for wanting to hear it one more time.I had missed this issue until it was picked by a New York Times critic as one of the best CDs of 2010. I'm not an expert in Wunderlich's discography, but it would seem that all of these opera excerpts, with one or two exceptions, appear in studio versions. Here the tenor performs them on stage in Munich and Vienna with the same impeccable musicality, all the more amazing given that there was no room for retakes. The album begins with five numbers from The Magic Flute that make me wonder what it must have been like to sit in the audience, bathed in such ravishing sound -- since I hear almost no coughing, the experience was probably as mesmerizing as I imagine. There's no real difference from Wunderlich's official recording under Bohm, but the dash of extra vividness from being a live performance is very appealing, as is Anneliese Rothenberger's lovely Pamina.Next comes Don Ottavio's two arias from Don Giovanni under Karajan from Vienna, which have circulated in pirate recordings, I believe, although I can't verify if the same performance is involved. both are meltingly beautiful all the more for being so well conducted. Two excerpts from the Barber of Seville, also form Vienna, are led by Karl Bohm, but I can't work up much enthusiasm over hearing Count Almaviva singing in German. (That old practice continued to hold sway at the time and mars Wundelrich's otherwise marvelous Puccini and Verdi, too.) Vocally, the results here are spectacular.Next we get four Strauss excerpts, one each from Daphne, Rosenkavalier, Capriccio, and Die freigsame Frau, all done to perfection, as you'd expect. They are mixed performances from Vienna and Munich, with Kempe, Bohm, Pretre, and Heinz Wallberg in the pit. The Daphne duet with Hilde Gueden parallels a famous DG recording under Bohm, and it sounds to me like the only item in stereo, the rest being in quite listenable mono (my copy is a download, without explanatory notes). Unknown to me are the numbers from Frau and Capriccio, but both are absolutely ravishing -- they are worth the price of admission on their own. Finally we get Belmont's two big arias from Abduction from the Seraglio, taken from a stage production under Krips in Vienna. This was one of those roles that became a signature for Wunderlich and has never been equaled, much less surpassed.I began listening to this CD on the assumption that it was for completists only, but it won me over, and in the end I had to agree with the Times that this is one of the best albums of the year.P.S. - Absolutes don't work in sensible criticism, but I wonder if Wunderlich's "Dalla sua pace" heard on this CD isn't possibly the greatest ever sung on disc. Any contenders?

Fritz Wunderlich was and still is the greatest lyric tenor. He tragically died at age 36.The great advantage of this CD is, that the arias are showing his great versatilityand that the recordings are all taken at his zenith as a singar

Magnifique Wunderlich. Sa voix est un miracle. Hélas! Ce chanteur qui aurait pu être le plus grand de tous les temps est mort à 35 ans d'une malheureuse chute dans un escalier. Par bonheur, sa discographie est immense. Les enregistrements en studio abondent : EMI dans sa superbe série "ICON" réédite en 6 CD des merveilles. DG fait paraître tous ses enregistrements : Album de 7 CD, "The art de FW" en 2005 "The magic of FW" en 2005,2 CD avec un DVD. "Fritz Wunderlich",en 6 CD en 1992 de même que les CD des récitals :"Privat","Sacred arias","Populâr","Ein Lied geht um die Welt","In Wien" et l'intégrale de La flûte enchantée avec Fischer-Diskau sous la dirction de Karl Böhm en 1964. Chez Polydor "Du bist die Welt für mich", ainsi que tous les albums chez Hännsler, facilement trouvables. De son côté, MYTO rend justice à cet artiste en éditant les intégrales d'opéras sur scène. Sur ce récent CD chez DG, on trouve donc des extraits d'intégrales en public des années 60 au son honnêtement restitué. "Die Zauberflöte" en 64 à Munich avec un Tamino en pleine forme. Don Giovanni à Vienne en 63 avec Karayan qui impose l'original en italien, ce qui nous permet d'entendre les 2 airs de Don Ottavio en italien alors que Wunderlich ne les a enregistrés qu'en allemand en studio. L'Enlèvement au Sérail date de 65 à Vienne avec Krips, un inédit "Prestation phénoménale", un Belmonte d'une pureté inégalée, alors que le ténor lutta toute la soirée contre les séquelles d'une allergie à la poussière. Des extraits d'un Barbier de Séville, en 66, mais hélas en allemand, comme c'était la tradition à l'époque d'enregistrer dans la langue de son pays. De nombreux Richard Strauss dont 2 inédits tirés du Chevalier à la Rose et de la Femme Silencieuse. Quelle classe! Quelle voix! Pas étonnant que Jonas Kaufmann et Joseph Calléja le citent en exemple. Ecoutez son interprététion de Granada chez DG "The art de FW" en 7 CD, où il ridiculise Placido Domingo, malgré la version en allemand. Une santé vocale, une conviction, des aîgus que personne n'a pu atteindre depuis. Ah! Si seulement la vie lui avait laissé le temps d'enregistrer en italien, en français!

Ich kann mir eigentlich nicht vorstellen, dass mich eine andere Tenorstimme so anrühren kann wie die von Fritz Wunderlich. Eine tolle Zusammenstellung sehr emotionaler Momente.