Die lustige Witwe

"The performance as such is full of life and high spirits - sometimes a mite too much. There is a tendency that some of the spoken dialogue and busy scenes becomes a bit crude, slightly exaggerated, at a live performance ... When it comes to the singing of the main soloists I am quite overwhelmed. The two sopranos, Marlis Petersen (Hanna Glawari) and Kateryna Kasper (Valencienne) are superb ... After almost 115 years Die lustige Witwe is still fresh as paint ... This newcomer doesn't make the already existing recordings redundant, but it joins them on the Parnassus of operetta. Lovers of Die lustige Witwe will find a lot to admire here - in particular the singing of Danilo and the two ladies".

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"It's possible to stage an enjoyable, idiomatic Widow that's entirely in the spirit of the piece without a single big name in sight ... This is a perfectly enjoyable account ... It certainly conveys the atmosphere of a live performance, complete with audience laughter, applause, onstage thuds, a recessed and sometimes splashy chorus and some of the most raucous grisettes I've heard on disc. All part of the fun, of course ... with brigt and buoyant conducting from Joana Mallwitz ... Iurii Samoilov is perhaps a slightly woolly-sounding Danilo ... but he blends nicely with Marlis Petersen's singing as Hanna ... Her soft-centred tone and graceful, light-touch phrasing certainly give this performance its heart ... This performance never forgets to be merry".