Smetana - Die verkaufte Braut - Fritz Wunderlich, Pilar Lorengar, Gottlob Frick - Rudolf Kempe, 19622CD - ADD - German - 137min.
EMI - Digital remastered and released 1987
Conductor Rudolf Kempe - 1962(STU)
Orchestra - Bamberger Symphoniker
Chorus - RIAS Kammerchor
Kruschina - Marcel Cordes
Kathinka - Nada Puttar
Marie - Pilar Lorengar
Micha - Ivan Sardi
Agnes - Sieglinde Wagner
Wenzel - Karl-Ernst Mercker
Hans - Fritz Wunderlich
Kezal - Gottlob Frick
Springer - Ernst Krukowski
Esmeralda - Gertrud Freedman
Muff - Walter Stoll
...Ingratiating is on the other hand exactly the adjective for Fritz Wunderlich. He has moments of strain but he often caresses Smetana’s beautiful music with that unique glowing tone; nowhere more so than in the short aria "Gesegnet, was liebt und auch vertraut" just before the finale, and of course in the famous duet with Marie in the first act¸ "Mit der Mutter sank zur Grabe". There, as elsewhere, Pilar Lorengar is better than in any other recording I have heard. Her quick vibrato, which later in her career tended to widen and give a feeling of unsteadiness, is here beautifully controlled and she sings warmly and, in the aria in act 3, emotionally charged. Wunderlich also shows his vitality and comic talent in the long act 2 scene with Kezal, that opens CD 2. As an actor he is only second best when set against such a larger-than-life personality as Gottlob Frick. Many probably think of him in the heavy Wagner roles, odious characters like Hunding and Hagen, or noble ones like Sarastro. He was also a superb Osmin and Kezal was a part that fitted him like a glove. His aria, included in this scene, is certainly the high-spot here. -- Comment Musicweb
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