Certain rhythms seem to flow naturally for certain people. Shakespeare could probably have held a conversation in iambic pentameters and, when it comes to music, you can find many national preferences: the tango for Argentinians, the samba for Brazilians, the polka for Czechs, the mazurka for Poles, the czárdás for Hungarians, and so on. The Austrians have developed a predilection for the waltz which grew out of an earlier dance, the Ländler. It comes so naturally to them that it is almost like a second language. The great Viennese soprano, Hilde Gueden, had it in her bones and was second to none in interpreting her native operettas. But, in an inspired move by the Decca recording team, in 1955 she was persuaded to try her hand at the waltz music of two British men of the theatre, Ivor Novello and Noël Coward. The resulting album, beautifully arranged and conducted by Stanley Black, has become a classic.
This 2CD set presents Gueden in folkloric vein, from the songs from musicals by Coward and Novello, to a sequence of Viennese songs, including waltzes and two programs delivered with often touching simplicity, one of children’s songs, the other of Christmas music. All are treated with the same polished perfectionism, a total eschewal of sentimentality and that indefinable quality through which great singers make intimate contact with their listeners. The recordings were made between 1952 and 1969 for Decca with whom she enjoyed a long collaboration.
CD 1
MY SECRET HEART: The Music of Ivor Novello and Noël Coward
IVOR NOVELLO
Music in May (Careless Rapture)
NOËL COWARD
I’ll follow my secret heart (Conversation Piece)
Zigeuner (Bitter Sweet)
IVOR NOVELLO
Leap Year Waltz (The Dancing Years)
Some day my heart will awake (King’s Rhapsody)
I can give you the starlight (The Dancing Years)
Waltz of my heart (The Dancing Years)
NOËL COWARD
I’ll see you again (Bitter Sweet)
IVOR NOVELLO
The violin began to play (King’s Rhapsody)
We’ll gather lilacs (Perchance to Dream)
NOËL COWARD
Some day I’ll find you (Private Lives)
IVOR NOVELLO
Glamorous Night (Glamorous Night)
Stanley Black and his Chorus & Orchestra
HILDE GUEDEN SINGS MUSIC FROM VIENNA
O du lieber Augustin
Brüderlein fein
Die Banda kommt
S’Mailufterl
Wenn’s die Geigen heimlich streicheln
Wiener Künstler
Das ist mein Wien
Kunst und Natur
Ich und der Mond
Wien, Weib, Wein
S’Herz von an echten Weana
Vogerl, flieg’ in’ d’ Welt hinaus
Wie sich der Wiener den Himmel vorstellt
Wiener-Wald
Herrgott, wie schön bist du, Wien
Orchestra conducted by Kurt Adler
CD 2
CHILDREN’S SONGS FROM MANY LANDS (arr. by Paul Fürst)
Hänschen klein
Backe backe Kuchen
Alle Vöglein sind schon da
Fuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen
Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-Butzemann
Hänsel und Gretel
Wer hat die schönsten Schäfchen
Vögelhochzeit
Ein Männlein steht im Walde
Suse, liebe, Suse
Die Blümelein, sie schlafen
Es klappert die Mühle
Kommt ein Vogerl geflogen
Müde bin ich, geh zur Ruh
Alle meine Entchen
Guter Mond, du gehst so stille
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hush a Bye Baby
Oranges and Lemons
Baa, Baa Black Sheep
Three Blind Mice
I Had a Little Nut Tree
Bye Baby Bunting
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
Frère Jacques
Sur le pont d’Avignon
Meunier tu dors
Il était un petit navire
Au clair de la lune
Tengo
Buji
Kasoeuta
Ma come balli bella bimba
Fa la nana bambin
Pajarito que cantas
Wiener Volksopernorchester
György Fischer
CHRISTMAS SONGS (arr. by Richard Rossmayer)
O du Fröhliche
O Tannenbaum
Was soll das bedeuten
Es blühen die Maien
Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen
Es hat sich eröffnet
Süsser die Glocken nie klingen
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Staatsopernorchester
Richard Rossmayer
Hilde Gueden, soprano
Recording Producers: unknown (CD1: 1–27, CD2: 37–44); Christopher Raeburn (CD2: 1–36)
Balance Engineers: Kenneth Wilkinson (CD1: 1–12); unknown (CD1: 13–27, CD2: 37–44); James Brown, James Lock (CD2: 1–36)
Recording Locations: Austria, October 1952 (CD1: 13–27); Austria, June 1953 (CD2: 37–44); Kingsway Hall, London, UK, March 1957 (CD1: 1–12); Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, 19–20 May & 2–4 July 1969 (CD2: 1–36)
‘a delightfully airy and delicate result’ (Christmas Songs) Gramophone
‘Beautifully sung and sensitively accompanied’ (Children’s Songs from Many Lands) Gramophone