Otto Nicolai (1810-1849)
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor"(Les Joyeuses Commères de Windsor) (extraits)

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884)
Ouverture "Die verkaufte Braut"
Duo "Wer in Lieb entbrannt" (Kezal et Hans), extrait de Die verkaufte Braut

Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921)
Ouverture "Hänsel und Gretel"

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Der Fliegende Höllander (extraits)
Choeur extrait de Lohengrin, "Treulich geführt ziehet dahin"
Choeur extrait de Tannhäuser, "Freudig begrüßen wir die edle Halle"

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Ouverture "La Traviata"
Choeur, Otello "Fire of Rejoicing"
Choeur extrait de Aida, "Gloria all'Egitto"
Choeur extrait de Nabucco "Va, pensiero, sull' ali dorate"
Duo "Die Stunde is heilig" (Alvaro, Carlos) extrait de Die Macht des Schicksals

Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek (1860-1945)
Ouverture "Donna Diana"

Franz von Suppé (1819-1895)
Ouverture "Poet and Peasant"
Ouverture "Light Cavalry"

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
Ouverture "Fie Fledermaus"

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Choeur, Carmen "Les voici la Quadrille !"
Duo "Am Abend war's (Zurg, Nadir) extrait de Die Perlenfischer

Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Choeur extrait de Cavalleria rusticana, "Ah! GLi arancio lezzano"

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)
Choeur extrait de Pagliacci, "Don din dan"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
La Flûte enchantée (extraits)
Duo "Vivat Bacchus, Bacchus lebe" (Pedrillo, Osmin) extrait de Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883)
Choeur extrait de Martha, "Mädchen brav und treu"

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Margarete (extraits)

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Choeur extrait de Der Freischütz, "Was gleicht wohl auf Erden dem jägervergnügen"

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Choeur extrait de Don Pasquale, "Che interminabile andirivieni"

Albert Lortzing (1801-1851)
Undine

Peter Schreier, tenor
Theo Adam, basse
Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin
Ernst Stoy, direction
Kinderchor des Philharmonischen Chores Dresden
Wolfgang Berger, direction
Staatskapelle Berlin
Bernhard Klee, direction
Staatskapelle Dresden
Otmar Suitner, direction
Guiseppe Patané, direction
Dresdner Philharmonie
Herbert Kegel, direction
Bamberger Symphoniker
Manfred Honeck, direction

From Mozart to Leoncavallo: three hours of opera’s greatest hits in rhythmically buoyant, highly enjoyable East-German recordings. Taped between 1959 (Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer) and 1993 (Die Fledermaus), a collection of overtures gets this operatic compilation off to a (literally) flying start. Suitner in particular directs deliciously sprung performances of Humperdinck (Hansel und Gretel), Smetana (The Bartered Bride) and Suppé (Dichter und Bauer / Poet and Peasant and Leichte Kavallerie / Light Cavalry). The Austro-Germanic angle of CD1 is widened on CD2 by a selection of opera choruses that represents some of the most powerful moments of 19th-century Italian opera. There is the triumphant hymn in praise of Egypt from the second act of Aida as well as the sublime song of pride and defiance, ‘Va pensiero’, that crowns Nabucco and became before long the unofficial anthem of the Risorgimento and the struggle for Italian unification. Verismo choruses are here too, taken from that evergreen pairing of Pagliacci and Cavelleria rusticana. Favourite German operatic choruses include the Chorus of Guests in Wagner’s Tannhäuser as well as the hymn of the priests in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Suitner directs all these: a compilation album made in Berlin in 1978. He also exercises a subtle guiding hand over the Staatskapelle Dresden for a compilation of tenor/baritone opera duets recorded in 1972 with the two foremost East-German male singers of their generation, Peter Schreier and Theo Adam. ‘Expectably’ commented Fanfare, ‘the results are echt Deutsch’ – even if the repertoire itself again covers Smetana, Gounod and Verdi as well as Mozart and Lortzing, with all the numbers sung in German and ‘performed with zest’.