Whatever other merits this new all-star Fledermaus may have, it certainly provides good value for money, the first side of the two records lasting over 42 minutes. Not only is a pretty full version of the (rewritten) dialogue included but also four extra numbers from four of the principals. However, the ballet music, included complete by Karajan on Decca, is excluded here as it is on the Kleiber/DG set. Domingo follows Kleiber by replacing it with the Unter Donner und Blitz polka, a questionable practice.
The choice of Domingo as conductor may be regarded in some quarters as a gimmick, particularly as he doubles as Alfred, but in the event he manages both tasks pretty well. When he conducted the operetta at Covent Garden in 1983 he laid a heavy hand on the score, but since then he seems to have learnt how to give a lift to waltz rhythms and generally lighten his approach. As I discovered when I attended some of the sessions, an initially sceptical orchestra came to respect and love its tenor-conductor, and the results are a pretty buoyant performance, not perhaps quite so immaculate as Kleiber's or so zestful as Karajan's—Domingo's tempos tend to be slower—but fully in the spirt of the piece. As alfred, Domingo—who has, of course, to dub his part—shows a sense of fun, and his spirited rendering of snippets from a great number of his roles, including even an ''Esultate'', suggests that this Alfred must have been a very distinguished member of the local ensemble.
Popp is a total success as Rosalinde, showing ingenuity and spirit in her characterization, and more feeling for the text than any Rosalinde since Schwarzkopf on the regrettably deleted earlier of Karajan's two recordings (Columbia mono 33CX 1309/10, 11/55). She may not have quite the panache of Varady in the Czardas on the Kleiber set, but she includes the 16 bars cut in every other recording I know. But Eva Lind (who has caused a sensation in many quarters as a Lucia aged only 20) is no match for the tehn younger Popp (Kleiber) as Adele. She is, unaccountably, given a giggly, ingenue character by the producer in the dialogue (her weeping at the beginning is quite overdone), and her singing, though neat and well-pointed, becomes peaky when she places pressure on her voice. Peter Seiffert, Popp's husband in real-life, brings a sappy, near-heroic tenor to Eisenstein, a welcome return to casting this type of voice in the role rather than a baritone (Prey for Kleiber), but he hasn't the Viennese character of Karajan's Kmentt or; even better, Patzak on the 1951 Decca mono set, now on Preiser conducted by Clemens Krauss (PR135035/6, 7/85).
Brendel is an excellent Falke, Rydl a rather serious bass Frank. Helmut Lohner has a high old time as Frosch, but doesn't extinguish memories of Kunz, more endearing, more Viennese on the Decca.
Lohner has also been responsible for revising and directing the dialogue. He certainly has instilled life and fun into the speaking parts, but I wonder if it is his decision or the producer's to place the speaking voices in a different acoustic from the singing voices, something that disturbed me throughout. To go from the extreme intimacy of the dialogue to the somewhat distanced and slightly reverberant acoustic of the musical side of thing isn't the best way to suggest a real stage performance, an effort that has been very definitely made here with 'rhubarbihg' party noises throughout Act 2, and background music (Strauss waltzes). I think both the other sets manage the production more naturally.
The Kleiber has no showpieces. Karajan includes the famous and now historical gala, with Tebaldi, Bjorling, Nilsson and the rest offering their party pieces to great effect. Lind, on the new version, challenges Sutherland (Decca) and loses in ''Il bacio''. Domingo sings a seductive ''Ach wie so herrlich'' (Eine Nacht in Venedig), Baltsa, who is a wonderfully blase, raucous Orlovsky, sings Saffi's aria from Der Zigeunerbaron with verve. But the choice item, indeed the most sensuous singing on the whole set, comes from Popp and Seiffert in ''War uns getraut'' from Der Zigeunerbaron. At least all these pieces are in the same mood as Die Fledermaus as compared with the Decca choices.
A final recommendation is difficult, Both the DG and the Decca have a drawback in the casting of Orlovsky: Kleiber has the eccentric Ivan Rebroff singing in a squeaky counter-tenor; Karajan has Resnik transposing down Orlofsky's couplets. Both are marginally preferable to the newcomer as regards conductor, both are more naturally recorded with the Decca still sounding the most lifelike, most like a stage rendering (its CD transfer, already in preparation, is eagerly awaited) and, most important, the most Viennese. But the EMI version is, on its own terms, most enjoyable and inviting with a well-coordinated cast and splendidly vital singing from Popp, Seiffert, Domingo, Brendel and Baltsa. Its economy of form is also in its favour. I look forward to hearing it on CD, where the recording will doubtless sound more immediate; indeed when all three sets are in the new medium—Kleiber is already there—it will be time enough to make a definitive choice.'