Opéra-Comique Overtures Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra & Michael Halász

• Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893):
• 1 La nonne sanglante, CG 2: Ouverture dramatique (Version for Orchestre restreint) 08:10
• Fromental Halévy (1799 - 1862):
• 2 Les mousquetaires de la reine: Overture 07:28
• Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891):
• 3 Le roi l'a dit: Overture 06:33
• Ferdinand Hérold (1791 - 1833):
• 4 Zampa: Overture 08:07
• Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763 - 1817):
• 5 Joseph: Overture 05:53
• 6 Héléna: Overture 05:29
• Charles Lecocq (1832 - 1918):
• 7 La petite mariée: Overture 06:00
• Louis-Aimé Maillart (1817 - 1871):
• 8 Les dragons de Villars: Overture 06:00
• François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775 - 1834):
• 9 Le calife de Bagdad: Overture 07:23
• Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880):
• 10 Le mariage aux lanternes: Overture 05:37
• Total Runtime 01:06:40

Info for Opéra-Comique Overtures

Opéra-comique emerged in the 19th century as an intermediary between grand opera and burlesque operetta. This album charts its progression as a distinct genre, tracing the origins from Boieldieu and Méhul early in the century via the classic vitality of masters such as Hérold and Maillart into the operetta style of Offenbach and Lecocq. With innovative features, colourful orchestration, drama, wit and atmospheric writing, the operas proved very popular and these overtures encapsulate their immense vivacity and charm.

ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien
Michael Halasz, conductor

Michael Halász
first engagement as a conductor was at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich, where, between 1972 and 1975, he directed all operetta productions. In 1975 he moved to Frankfurt to work as principal Kapellmeister with Christoph von Dohnányi, and here he conducted the most important works of the operatic repertoire. Many engagements as a guest conductor followed and in 1977 Dohnányi took him to the Staatsoper Hamburg as principal Kapellmeister. From 1978 to 1991 he was GMD (general music director) of the Hagen Opera House and in 1991 he took up the post of resident conductor at the Wiener Staatsoper for 20 years.

Michael Halász’s recordings for Naxos include ballets by Tchaikovsky, operatic excerpts of Wagner, symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert and Mahler, Rossini’s overtures, three volumes of Liszt’s symphonic poems (the latter critically acclaimed by the Penguin Guide), Fidelio (8.660070-71), Don Giovanni (8.660080-82), Le nozze di Figaro (8.660102-04), Die Zauberflöte (8.660030-31), and a pioneering recording of Schreker’s opera Der ferne Klang (8.660074-75). He has also recorded Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Orfeo (8.550766), Richard Strauss’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (8.553379), Rubinstein’s Don Quixote (8.555394) and, for Marco Polo, ballet music by Rubinstein (8.220451) and Schmidt’s Symphony No. 1 (8.223119).

Booklet for Opéra-Comique Overtures