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Vienna: City of My Dreams
Plácido Domingo
Vienna: City of My Dreams
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1

Placido Domingo can do no wrong. He sheds the glory of his voice over whatever he undertakes, whether it's grand opera or more popular fare, and makes its style and idiom his own with total dedication. Here we find him in ...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Plácido Domingo
Title: Vienna: City of My Dreams
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: EMI Classics
Release Date: 5/4/2004
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 724357524223

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Placido Domingo can do no wrong. He sheds the glory of his voice over whatever he undertakes, whether it's grand opera or more popular fare, and makes its style and idiom his own with total dedication. Here we find him in a London studio in 1985, with an English orchestra and chorus under a Viennese conductor, bringing back the Golden Age of the Vienna operetta, covering composers from Johann Strauss II, b. 1825, to Oscar Straus, d. 1954. Anyone with memories of that time and place, beware! Your heart will melt with nostalgia as this Spanish-born, Mexican-raised tenor sings of his love and longing for the "city of his dreams" and its beautiful girls. Only in the famous title song (which is not part of an operetta) does this combination seem a bit incongruous, especially since Domingo's German, not to mention his Viennese, hardly sounds native. However, you don't have to be Viennese to succumb to the music and the singing. The program includes several familiar favorites, notably three arias by Lehár (much the best composer after Strauss), two by Emmerich Kálmán, a Hungarian adept at writing in gypsy style, a lovely one each by Oscar Straus and Johann Strauss, and two by the lesser-known Leo Fall. Most of the songs are about love, genuine, frivolous, yearning or frustrated, and it is testimony to Domingo's artistry that he does not condescend even to the most banal; indeed he sings the more serious ones with all the passion of a Radames. Only when the irony is inherent in the song itself does he allow a smile to steal into his voice. The anonymous orchestrations seem more at home in Hollywood than in Vienna, but the orchestra plays beautifully. --Edith Eisler
 

CD Reviews

Wiener Schlag, perhaps a little too sweet?
Juergen Bahr | Calgary, Canada | 07/08/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)

"A much appreciated recording of the classic tenor "arias" of the operetta genre. Good solid recording, excellent orchestra under the baton of Julius Rudel. A must for the operetta fan, as it is not easy to find thoughful and carefully researched collections like this. Placido Domingo is of very good voice and sings these not so challenging material with conviction and commitment. The interpretation of the material is perhaps almost too romantic and over done. Long held phrasing, slurpy singing interferes with the pretty straight forward intent of this material. Perhaps zarzuela meets operetta? But the recording is very enjoyable and does bring back the days of Rudolf Schock and long enjoyable evenings at the Volksoper."