Oscar Straus
Oscar Straus wrote Viennese operettas and songs that balance theatre sparkle with a lighter lyric voice. His best-known stage works include A Waltz Dream and The Chocolate Soldier, whose waltz and aria writing still surface in recital.
The Chocolate Soldier left him one lasting recital favourite in the aria My hero. Elsewhere the catalogue reaches cabaret and art song: Altes Ghettoliedchen, Op. 108, is a small, sorrowing ghetto portrait far from operetta glitter. He also wrote film scores, chamber music and hundreds of cabaret songs, with an ear for melody that could carry both comedy and quiet feeling.
Compositions by Oscar Straus appear on
Lest We Forget: A Manifest of Struggle and Hope
Welcome to the world’s first “classical” protest CD. The music ranges widely across Germany, France, England, Austria, Poland, Chile, the USA and Australia, touching world wars, the Holocaust, dictatorships and the stolen generation. It is a no-holds-barred plea for humanity to recover humanitarian values before it is too late.
Rita Hunter in Concert
Rita Hunter is one of the great unsung heroines among sopranos. This live London concert from the 1970s catches her at her best in a programme of variety and passion.