What to do with this? Granted, the selections practically live up to the album’s title, especially if you don’t particularly like operetta and only want little bits of it, but are these the ideal performances? Hardly. It’s always nice to hear “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz”, once in English with Mario Lanza and once in German with Rudolf Schock, but I miss Nicolai Gedda or Peter Anders. And the Vilja Lied sung by Margit Schramm is a delight, but it’s hardly definitive. Montserrat Caballé makes a sad appearance with someone named Javier Palacios in the Merry Widow Waltz, but Fritz Wunderlich handles selections by Strauss and Zeller with grace and charm. Jerry Hadley is nice in two Lehar ditties and Julia Migenes sings Robert Stolz nicely. Anna Moffo is rather a mess in another Stolz ariette but Frederica von Stade walks away with two Offenbach moments. It’s a pity that EMI had most of the classic operetta artists–that would’ve been one helluva CD full of fluff! This one’s just okay.
