I really like about half of this concert. Unfortunately, parts of the other half--including all of the songs from Elisabeth, alas--I prefer to skip. I shan't do a very detailed description of each track, but would like to give some idea of what the whole recording's like.
The first track is simply labelled Intro: 19 seconds (or so they say; my stereo claims it's only 9) of applause.
The first song is Everything's Coming Up Roses, performed as a quartet. I don't much care for the song, usually, but as is clear later on in the concert, these four singers work very well together; I like nearly all of the numbers they're all on.
I've never heard I've Got the World on a String before, and although I'm not inclined to seek out other recordings of it, I probably wouldn't mind it too much. Gernot sounds very different from what I'd expected, based on his Franz Joseph (the only thing I'd heard him do when I got this recording), but not bad--just different. Unfortunately, I just don't like Marika Lichter's voice that much. She frequently sounds very...brassy, I suppose. Reminds me of a trumpet at times, actually.
I wasn't expecting too much from Maya Hakvoort, since I really really didn't like her on the live Vienna cast album of Elisabeth, but I was very impressed by her Inside Looking Out (from Gaudi). In addition to perfect English pronunciation--something I'm coming to expect from Dutch performers :) (Gernot, Lichter, and Kröger all have great pronunciation too, but Hakvoort's is perfect)--I find her voice much more pleasant than I did as Sisi. Frankly, this concert makes me suspect that Hakvoort's better when she's not trying to act....She's got a pleasant voice, she just makes some really poor acting choices, which she's then not capable of pulling off....Oh, I like this song, too. :)
Dora is another song by Eric Woolfson--this time a) from Freudiana; b) in German (the first of the concert); and c) sung by Viktor Gernot. I like this song a great deal, as well as Gernot's performance of it. There have been days when I've listened to nothing but this song, over and over and over.....
At last, Kröger makes his first appearance since the opening quartet, with Mein Gott, warum (Why, God, Why). And this is a much better performance than he gave on the Stuttgart Saigon cast album, IMO. I suppose a year of performing this role regularly helped him grow into it. Or maybe the sound quality of this CD is just better than that of the cast album--wouldn't take much. Then again, it could be because Kröger's just better live, in general, than on studio recordings--even the good ones (such as Sunset). :) Whatever the reason, although this isn't my favourite version of the song (I prefer Tony Neef, from the Dutch recording; his voice is just more suited to the role), it's not too far behind.
Surprise is hardly an outstanding song--in fact, in and of itself, I don't like it--but when performed by someone who's getting into it, it can be quite hilarious. Gernot gets very into this song, and certainly seems to be having fun with it, which makes it almost enjoyable for me as well. I do skip it at times, but only because I just don't like the song.
I just love Quand on n'a plus rien à perdre (from Starmania)! Hakvoort and Kröger both sound great on this song--which is considerably more rock than most of the concert. Their voices don't just blend well; they actually sound like one person at times, especially the final line!
