If it’s Hansel-in-English you’re looking for, this set clearly is your choice. Despite the fact that it isn’t bad, there are several better versions of this opera available on CD, most noticeably under Jeffrey Tate (with Otter and Bonney) and Karajan (Schwarzkopf and Grümmer), both on EMI. Here we get a lovely pair of kids in Suzanne Mentzer and Heidi Grant Murphy, their voices so utterly un-alike that the listening experience is vivid for that alone–but besides that, their interplay is credible and they both make wonderful sounds. Mentzer’s dark-hued mezzo is suitably boyish, while Murphy’s little-girl tone is charming. Judith Forst, hardly in the first bloom of her career, is a vicious Witch, smacking her lips and exuding spite and malice–and her diction is quite good too, unlike Murphy’s, just to offer one comparison. Janice Taylor’s portrayal of the mother is very fine, but her tone is wobbly; Robert Orth is a sympathetic, burly father; and Anna Christy’s double-duty as Sandman and Dew Fairy is impressive.
Conductor Andreas Delfs favors slowish tempos, bringing out the rich, symphonic aspects of the score and always making clear that Humperdinck was heavily influenced by Wagner. The Milwaukee Orchestra is excellent, with playing both atmospheric and grand from the brass section in this live performance (no audience is discernible). I guess it’s nice to hear the opera in English even if much of it can’t be understood, but–not to pick nits–why would a child say “toil” when he can say “work”? The sound is better than good–rich and colorful.
