Heinrich Marschner's 1828 opera Der Vampyr is a significant work that has never really gotten a decent studio recording that is faithful to the original piece. The 1992 Virgin Classics offering, based on a Janet Street-Porter English-language BBC television production, heavily revised and "hipped up" the original libretto to make it more palatable for contemporary audiences. Other recordings generally stick to a revision dating from 1925 prepared by composer
Hans Pfitzner that normalizes the orchestration to a modern standard, although not all recorded performances take advantage of
Pfitzner's unusual idea of moving the overture into the middle of the first act. The vast majority of Der Vampyr recordings are from live performances and broadcast sources; Opera D'Oro/Grand Tier's Heinrich Marschner: Der Vampyr features a 1974 recording unusual in that it is from a broadcast, but not a "live" one. This performance, led by Fritz Rieger with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and featuring Roland Hermann,
Arleen Augér, and
Anna Tomowa-Sintow, was specially made for radio, incorporating some spoken dialogue that is recorded closely and not from the stage. Although it makes some cuts, this version is probably the best among recorded versions of Der Vampyr within the "live" opera collector's market, and it is already well traveled there, having appeared at least twice before on the Enterprise and in an older Opera d'Oro version.
This performance is quite excellent, particularly bass-baritone Hermann, who has a demanding role in Lord Ruthven and a lot of the music, but never lets it get long-winded or dull. The package is improved 100 percent over the first one Opera d'Oro issued that in place of no liners we get a 64-page booklet with informative, thoughtful notes by Richard Burke, a summary, some photos, and the complete German-English libretto. The sound seems to have been good on the original tape, and too enthusiastically applied CEDARing has taken the warmth out of the master recording and has replaced it with a trebly sounding midrange, unattractive to the ears, but over time one gets used to it.
Marschner's source was the Byronic gothic tale The Vampyre by John Polidori, which hadn't even been in print a decade when Marschner transformed it into his opera, complete with a happy ending not in the original story. Many critics complain that the opera's inferiority accounts for its obscurity, a viewpoint not necessarily held by all; musically it can be enjoyed by anyone who likes Rossini's operas. The combination of Der Vampyr's breezy music and insouciant rhythmic profile with the grim subject of this Gothic romance makes for an "alienation effect" that Marschner might not have intended, yet nevertheless achieved. This puts Der Vampyr in a class with only a few, similar nineteenth century works, such as the 1869 version of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, that likewise attain this paradoxical end. Unfortunately, these cheap opera sets have long offered oft-reproduced recordings while aggressively de-noising with dubious provenance. That is why one feels reluctant to admit that, for the lack of decent alternatives, Opera D'Oro/Grand Tier's Heinrich Marschner: Der Vampyr is the best available option for this important and highly entertaining opera. Just bear in mind that the soprano singing the role of Ianthe is Jane Marsh, not "Jane Marsch."