Gramophone

'Chandos and the Peter Moores Foundation have made an excellent job... They offer some of the more testing and rewarding arias for an operetta tenor, and there are no terrors for Bruce Ford... There are full-bloodied performances from orchestra and chorus, with idiomatic interpretations from a conductor steeped in the Viennese tradition, exotic instruments as required, and soprano and baritone contributions that ensure full authenticity and welcome variety.'
1 Lehár's The Land of Smiles 'You are my heart's delight'
with Pieter Schoeman, violin solo
2 Offenbach's La Belle Hélčne 'On Mount Ida'
3 J. Strauss II's The Gipsy Baron 'Who made us one?'
with Helen Williams, soprano & Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
4 Kálmán's Countess Maritza 'Play, gipsy'
5 J. Strauss II's A Night in Venice 'Love is....'
6 Lehár's The Land of Smiles 'Patiently smiling'
7 J. Strauss II's The Gipsy Baron 'Since I was left...'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
8 Zeller's The Birdseller 'My old father years ago'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
9 Stolz' The Song is Done 'Don't ask me why I'm leaving'
10 Oscar Straus's A Waltz Dream 'Softly, so softly'
with Alan Opie, baritone
11 Lehár's Giuditta 'Comrades, this life...'
with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir & Pieter Schoeman, violin solo
12 Lehár's The Czarevitch 'Alone, always alone'
13 Kálmán's Countess Maritza
'Heavens, what's happ'ning to me?'
with Helen Williams, soprano
14 Kálmán's Countess Maritza 'Vienna mine'
15 Lehár's The Land of Smiles
'Love! What has given you this magic pow'r?'
with Helen Williams, soprano & Pieter Schoeman, violin solo
16 Stolz 'We met in Vienna, my true love and I'
17 Lehár's The Merry Widow 'Words forbidden' with Helen Williams, soprano

London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Walter Weller

Recorded in Blackheath Halls, London 3-10 February 2002
Producer - Brian Couzens, Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens
Assistant engineers - Christopher Brooke & Michael Common


CHAN 3088
Bruce Ford sings Viennese Operetta