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Opera stars Richard Tucker and Igor Gorin, Broadway and opera baritone Robert Weede, and radio star Marion Claire join forces in two operetta gems—The Gypsy Princess and Sari—of Hungarian master Emmerich Kálmán. Bonus tracks feature tenor Jan Peerce in songs from The Gypsy Princess. |
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OA 1002 – Kálmán Conducts Kálmán In 1940, soon after arriving in America, Emmerich Kálmán was invited to conduct the NBC Concert Orchestra in a program of his own operetta music. The concert features vocal selections by Gitta Alpar and Felix Knight as well as orchestral medleys from several of the composer’s shows. |
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In addition to a complete 1940’s radio broadcast of Kálmán's Countess Maritza, the CD features vocal medleys by The Victor Light Opera Company from Miss Springtime and The Yankee Princess, as well as songs and orchestral selections by Igor Gorin, Paul Whiteman, and others. |
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OA 1004 – Gems from The Ohio Light Opera Twenty vocal selections and one overture drawn from the 1984-2000 archives of America’s premiere operetta company. Hear your favorites and rare gems from the shows of Gilbert and Sullivan, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Emmerich Kálmán, Franz Lehár, Leo Fall, Oscar Straus, Sigmund Romberg, and others. |
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OA 1005 – Gold and Silver - A grand tour through the world of operetta—French, American, British, Viennese, Hungarian, German, and Spanish—in this anniversary edition celebrating 25 years of The Ohio Light Opera. All selections are sung in English. The 40-page booklet contains plot summaries, a company history, and reminiscences of past and current performers. |
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OA 1006 – Emmerich Kálmán’s Countess Maritza The first-ever recording of this Viennese operetta masterpiece that includes every song that Kálmán wrote for the 1924 premiere. A bonus track on this nearly three-hour CD set features the aria that the composer wrote for the 1932 film version of the show. |
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OA 1007 – Façade (music by William Walton, verses by Dame Edith Sitwell) Ohio Light Opera founder James Stuart is the reciter, and Louis Lane, the conductor in this engaging version of Walton’s 1923 entertainment. The CD opens with an informative and humorous 13-minute commentary by Lane. Full texts included. |
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OA 1008 – Operetta Delights: The top stage, film, and radio stars—Richard Crooks, Ruth Etting, Kenny Baker, Lawrence Tibbett, Gladys Swarthout, and Igor Gorin to name just a few—of the 1920’s and 1930’s sing 41 hit songs taken from the most popular operettas on Broadway and the silver screen. |
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OA 1009 – Emmerich Kálmán’s Arizona Lady (2 CDs) Kálmán’s last operetta, a tribute to America, where he made his home during the 1940’s, premiered on Bavarian Radio on New Year’s Day, 1954. This CD recording, the first-ever of the show, is taken complete from that broadcast and features some of the top German singers of the day, including Herbert Ernst Groh, dubbed as Richard Tauber’s rightful successor. Sung in German. |
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OA 1010 – The Art of Brian Woods (2 CDs) Tenor Brian Woods distinguished himself in a career—cut short by cancer at age 31—on the operetta, opera, and concert stage. This tribute CD set features selections from his Ohio Light Opera repertoire as well as lieder, arias from oratorio, and opera selections taken from his various concert and stage appearances. |
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OA 1011 – Emmerich Kálmán’s The Violet of Montmartre With harmonies that pay homage to Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Richard Strauss, Kálmán is at his most international in this Bohème-inspired story of three starving artists and the street singer who comes to their rescue. Sung in English, with full libretto enclosed, this is the first complete recording of what surely ranks as one of the composer’s masterpieces. Bonus tracks include two songs that Kálmán inserted in the 1930 Berlin production. |
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OA 1012– Fascinating Night At least 90 percent of the nearly 3000 musicals to play Broadway over the past 150 years have fallen into total oblivion. Yet many of these shows contain song gems of great beauty and entertainment value that, in their day, delighted audiences. The repertoire for this CD is taken from Broadway and West End shows from the period 1898–1927. The majority are here given their recording debuts. |
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Virtuosic piano potpourris from Emmerich Kálmán’s stage operettas Die Bajadere, Die Zirkusprinzessin, Das Herzogin von Chicago, and Das Veilchen vom Montmartre, as well as from his 1930 film operetta, Ronny. Featuring pianist Alex Hassan. |
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Although barely a single note from this operetta has ever been recorded, this is one of Kálmán’s most hauntingly beautiful scores, written for a bittersweet story of a soldier who has to bring the sad news to a mother and sister that his army comrade has been killed in action. (in English, 4-page booklet) |
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OA1016 – Beyond My Fondest Dreams Song medleys from Jurmann’s 1946 musical Windy City and from his German and American films from the 1930s and 1940s, including the famous title song from the Clark Gable/Jeanette MacDonald film San Francisco. Featuring virtuosic pianist Alex Hassan. |
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OA 1017– Spring All the Year Round Inspired by his father’s operetta roots, but carving out his own musical style more reminiscent of the European and American popular music of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Munich-based composer Charles Kálmán has achieved great success in a large number of works for the stage, the concert hall, and film. Pianist Alex Hassan takes us on a virtuosic survey of a cross-section of this oeuvre. |
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OA 1021– Emmerich Kálmán’s Marinka This 1945 Broadway romantic musical is a happy-end version of the infamous Mayerling episode in Austrian history –the mysterious double suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf and his teenaged mistress Maria Vetsera. This world premiere recording of the entire Broadway score includes cut numbers, the complete ballet music, and features nine singers with two-piano accompaniment. Hit songs include “Only one touch of Vienna,” “The cab song,” Sigh by night,” and the quite risqué “When I auditioned for the harem of the shah.” |