This recording of Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles) is a part of a series of recorded operettas presented by Seefestspiele Mörbisch, or in English, The Mörbisch Lake Festival, on the Oehms Classics label. This 2002 recording is made in a studio environment and is very clear, direct, and immediate. Although Das Land des Lächelns is unlikely to overtake the popularity of Die Lüstige Wittwe in Lehár's canon of operetta, the work is unusual among late-period Viennese operettas in that it has never lacked ...
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This recording of Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles) is a part of a series of recorded operettas presented by Seefestspiele Mörbisch, or in English, The Mörbisch Lake Festival, on the Oehms Classics label. This 2002 recording is made in a studio environment and is very clear, direct, and immediate. Although Das Land des Lächelns is unlikely to overtake the popularity of Die Lüstige Wittwe in Lehár's canon of operetta, the work is unusual among late-period Viennese operettas in that it has never lacked for good recordings. Premiered concurrently with the dawn of talking pictures, Das Land des Lächelns was almost immediately made into an early sound film featuring the star who made it a hit in Vienna, Richard Tauber. Tauber set the bar very high in the role of Prinz Sou Chong, which was written for him, and even if his recordings of the work fit into the historical category; subsequent, more modern recordings of Das Land des Lächelns have been of sufficient quality as to make the...
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