In its heyday, Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince ruled Broadway. Its original run lasted 608 performances and during the 1920s and ’30s it even outran Jerome Kern’s Show Boat and everything by the Gershwins. Yet I suspect most people familiar with the work today came to know it through the 1954 film version with ‘the singing voice of Mario Lanza’. Lanza was fired from the production but MGM retained rights to the soundtrack, which had already been recorded. If you only know The Student Prince via the silver screen, this new CPO recording may surprise, not least because of what it doesn’t contain. ‘I’ll walk with God’, ‘Beloved’ and ‘Summertime in Heidelberg’ were all composed by Nicholas Brodszky as additional numbers for the film, so have no place here.

Dorothy Donnelly’s book, based on Wilhelm Meyer-Förster’s play Old Heidelberg, concerns Prince Karl-Franz, who heads to Heidelberg University to complete his studies. There he revels in student life and falls for Kathie, niece of the innkeeper at The Three Golden Apples. But royal duty prevents there being a happy ending in the romance stakes – by Act 3 Karl-Franz is now king and obliged to take the Princess Margaret as his bride.

Recorded in concert in Cologne, just a few hours from Heidelberg – where they still sell chocolatier Fridolin Knösel’s Student Kisses – this is a spirited performance. Mauceri is a doyen of musical theatre and the potpourri overture immediately reveals that the Cologne WDR Funkhaus Orchestra has just the style required for this chocolate-coated score. A mostly German cast is assembled; and while most of their diction is comprehensible, CPO misses a trick by not including the libretto in the booklet. I couldn’t help feeling I was missing out on some clever rhymes.

Dominik Wortig’s baritonal tenor – not unlike a youthful Thomas Hampson – makes for a noble Karl-Franz and he sings the famous Serenade ‘Overhead the moon is beaming’ with winning charm. Anja Petersen occasionally has to squeeze out the high notes as Kathie but does a sterling job. The recording includes hardly any dialogue, and Romberg keeps the tunes coming, a certain amount of recycling ensuring they become familiar as the work progresses. The supporting cast is solid.