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 Waldemar Kmentt - Recital - Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, Rossini, Gounod, Etc
Release Date: 06/30/2009 
Label:  Orfeo D'or Catalog #: 770091   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  Wolfgang Amadeus MozartChristoph W. GluckLudwig van BeethovenGioachino RossiniCharles Gounod
Jacques OffenbachLeos JanácekRichard Strauss
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt

Number of Discs: 1 

CD  $18.49
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Notes & Reviews   Works on This Recording  
 Notes & Reviews Back to Top 
In 1955, he was already singing Jaquino in the production of Beethoven’s Fidelio for the reopening of the Vienna State Opera, and performed internationally in roles such as Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow until the turn of the century. During all this time, the tenor Waldemar Kmentt gave countless dazzling performances on the world’s greatest opera stages. From lyric tenor to roles bordering on youthful heroic tenor, there is hardly a part he has not sung. This portrait in honour of his 80th birthday is an impressive reflection of his versatility, with excerpts from roles he performed at the Vienna State Opera, where he was always based, even when travelling for guest performances between Bayreuth and Buenos Aires, and where he received the title of “Kammersänger” and was eventually made an honorary member. The flexibility and brilliant timbre of his voice brought him many roles at the State Opera, both in the legendary Mozart Ensemble under Karl Böhm and as an ‘Italian’ tenor (though, as usual at that time, mostly in German). Thus the portrait includes his Idomeneo and Ferrando in Così fan tutte as well as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola. Not quite so well-known is the fact that Kmentt increasingly sang the French fach in the 1960s; the excerpt included in the CD is Gounod’s Faust under Georges Prêtre – here in the original language, with Wilma Lipp. His duet with Anja Silja from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann (under Josef Krips) testifies to Kmentt’s exceptional talent as a musical partner. This is also evident in his performance of Janacék’s Jenufa together with Sena Jurinac, as well as in the dialogue with Peter Weber’s Music Master in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, where, in a 1996 recording of the speaking part of the Major-Domo, Waldemar Kmentt’s precise articulation and vocal skill are clearly audible. Thus it is hardly surprising that even in less frequently performed works such as Gluck’s Iphigenie auf Tauris (Pylade) and Stravinsky’s classicistic The Rake’s Progress, he gave a striking though lyrical portrayal of his characters – and also a brilliant rendering of dreaded short roles such as the Italian tenor in Strauss’s Rosenkavalier at the première of the opera in 1968 under Leonard Bernstein. This aria concludes the cross-section of the prodigious career of a tenor who, ever modest, never relied on mere showmanship.
 Works on This Recording Back to Top 
1.  Idomeneo, K 366: Qual mi conturba by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Classical 
Written: 1781; Munich, Germany 
2.  Così fan tutte, K 588: La mia Dorabella by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Classical 
Written: 1790; Vienna, Austria 
3.  Iphigénie en Aulide: Cruelle, non jamais by Christoph W. Gluck
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Classical 
Written: 1772-1774; Vienna, Austria 
4.  Fidelio, Op. 72: Jetzt, Schätzchen, jetzt sind wir allein by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Classical 
Written: 1805/1814; Vienna, Austria 
5.  La Cenerentola: Principe più non sei...Noi voleremo, domanderemo by Gioachino Rossini
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1817; Italy 
6.  Faust: Salut! demeure chaste et pure by Charles Gounod
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1859; France 
7.  Faust: Il se fait tard by Charles Gounod
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1859; France 
8.  Les contes d'Hoffmann: Il était une fois "Kleinzach Legend" by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1881; Paris, France 
9.  Jenufa: It's me, Auntie! by Leos Janácek
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century 
Written: Brno, Czech Republic 
10.  Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60: Mein Herr Haushofmeister! by Richard Strauss
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1911/1916; Germany 
11.  Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59: Di rigori armato il seno by Richard Strauss
Performer:  Waldemar Kmentt (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1909-1910; Germany 
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