The title of this Telefunken Legacy CD should be altered to “an operatic portrait of the tenor in his youth”, for all of the 18 selections here were recorded between 1934 and 1939, when Peter Anders was in his early 30s. So we get a light, lyric tenor with a bright, tightly focused sound, a middle register of cuddly warmth, and a silvery top. Another aspect of Anders’ singing is his typically throaty German tonal emission, not necessarily unattractive in itself but stylistically at odds with some of the Italian opera selections, such as “Questo e quella” and “La donna é mobile” from Rigoletto and Cavaradossi’s big arias from Tosca, which require a more open, Italianate sound. Strangely, Anders does supply it to a degree in the one selection not sung in German, the Italian tenor’s aria from Der Rosenkavalier, an example that only underlines the unfortunate effect his native tongue can have on works written in other languages. But it’s far from fatal when you hear the way Anders paces and builds the “Flower Song” from Carmen, or when he makes such an ardent Lensky in the aria from Eugen Onegin.
Anders’ voice captivates immediately in the opening track, “O wie ängslich” from the Abduction from the Seraglio, sung with a tear in the voice of the sort we rarely hear from our contemporary singers. He brings a lovely legato to “Della sua pace” and fresh coloratura to “Il mio tesoro”, and phrases beautifully in Max’s aria from Der Freischütz. Even when he misses, as in the Italian repertoire or in the “Song of the Indian Guest” from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko, it’s not by much and it’s due to stylistic rather than vocal deficiencies. With time, Anders adopted heavier roles, winning acclaim for his Florestan and taking on the Wagner repertory (a Bayreuth Parsifal was in the works when he died in a 1954 car accident). Nostalgia buffs will love the production, a fold-out cardboard cover housing the booklet with the disc slipped into a paper envelope replicating the old 78-rpm sleeves. The sound, in contrast to Teldec’s failed reissues of vintage Telefunkens some years ago, is first rate–immediate and full.
