Durch die Lüfte Carl Michael Ziehrer

Resenha do Álbum

It's pretty impressive that the Original C. M. Ziehrer Orchestra was only re-founded in 2003 and that by 2009 it was already up to Volume 9 in its complete edition of Ziehrer's works. The orchestra may be at it quite a bit longer, as his work list runs up to Opus 566 and Ziehrer authored a significant number of pieces besides that which do not bear a number. To that end, the Ziehrer Orchestra includes the overture, a couple of arias, and a duet from Ziehrer's operetta Fürst Casimir (1913) and also includes vocal numbers from the operettas Herr und Frau Biedermeier (1909) and Ein tolles Mädel (A Crazy Girl, 1907). The singing, by soprano Nina Berten and tenor Jörg Schneider, is very good and faithful to the idiom, and generally that applies to most of what appears here. Perhaps the only questionable interpretation is that of the polka-mazurka Blaue Augen, Op. 168, which seems a little slow given its genre. In other ways, though, they exceed expectations, such as with the use of muted brass instruments in the polka française Minnespiele, Op. 74 (1867). Stylistically, Ziehrer wasn't very far off the manner of Johann Strauss II; however, he lived and worked both longer and later than his illustrious predecessor. His Kaiser-Karl Marsch, Op. 558, was issued in honor of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl's 1916 declaration wishing an end to the First World War; all of the material relating to the operetta Fürst Casimir debuted on the eve of the Great War's outbreak in 1913. This event, of course, would lay waste to the entire world that Ziehrer knew, and even to Ziehrer himself. By the time Ziehrer died in 1922, the Viennese stage was already moving into Zeitoper and picking up elements of continental jazz, changing the sound of Viennese popular music forever. Ziehrer is always interesting as representing the last blast of Old Vienna; nevertheless, this disc doesn't contain as many obvious highlights as some of the earlier ones, and one wonders about the continuing lack of rhyme or reason regarding the compilation of these discs. Nevertheless, the music is for the most part exactly as it should be; pleasant, not life-changing but life-affirming music that has a lift in its step and takes a load off the listener. There just isn't anything that separates Durch die Lüfte from the other eight volumes in what will be a very long series should it manage to reach completion.
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