This Preiser reissue of Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein originates with a recording made in Paris in 1958 under the baton of
René Leibowitz. It initially appeared in the United States on Urania LP 5115 as one of the first opera sets recorded and issued in stereo. Very few complete recordings of La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein have followed in its wake, and some that have come along in latter days are surprisingly bad, including a 1977 Columbia version led by
Michel Plasson and starring
Régine Crespin and Mady Mesplé. What these later incarnations are lacking is a sense of characterization, high spirits, and joie de vivre, which the older recording has in spades. Bass John Riley is absolutely splendid in the role of pompous, over-stuffed General Boum in this tale set in a mythical duchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire quite reminiscent of "Fredonia" in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. Altogether, the rest of the cast is good, very much in the spirit of the show, and
René Leibowitz is light on his feet, keeping the music moving at a high-energy pace with plenty of bubbly sprite.
The sound is bright, loud, and quite distorted at times, particularly in passages where both chorus and orchestra are present. It sounds like a 1950s motion picture soundtrack; the original recording may have been engineered by André Charlin, one of the most important pioneers of stereophonic sound in Europe. Throughout the operetta, there is a scattering of spoken dialogue here and there, which will not bother Francophiles, but for the lack of a libretto, others may find themselves twiddling their thumbs during these parts. Preiser provides a summary of the action in English and access points to each scene. If one can get past the constricted early stereo sound and the lack of access to the text of the La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, this recording will prove tremendously entertaining and fun.