Offenbach La Princesse de Trébizonde Virginie Verrez, Anne-Catherine Gillet et al; London Philharmonic Orchestra/Paul Daniel Opera Rara ORC63 121:07 mins (2 discs)
Premiered in Paris in December 1869 after a summer opening at Baden Baden, La Princesse de Trébizonde was Offenbach’s last work before Prussia sent Napoleon III’s Second Empire into exile at the Battle of Sedan.
And it’s a compendium of everything that Offenbach had achieved in that gilded imperial age. A demented plot with a group of travelling acrobats winning a castle in a lottery and led by Cabriolo whose daughter, Zanetta, impersonating a waxwork of La Princesse de Trébizonde steals the heart of Prince Raphaël; with a score that races and fizzes like a well-tuned steam train and telling teases about upwardly mobile social ambitions and an infantilised ruling class. There’s a recording bonus too of the music that Offenbach cut after the German premiere.
Opera Rara field a fine cast led by Anne-Catherine Gillet as Zanetta. And while her Prince, Virginie Verrez in a breeches role, may lack Gillet’s vocal precision and scrupulous diction they make a winning pair in their Act 2 duet. Christophe Gay is a sturdy Cabriolo and Josh Lovell a splendidly huffy-puffy ruler with a penchant for beating people.
Yet the hero of this splendid set is Paul Daniel, who knows exactly how to take risks with Offenbach’s tempos, the final galop leaving you completely winded. Daniel and the LPO remind us of how skilled an orchestrator Offenbach was, knowing how to pass a winning tune around the orchestra in a manner that keeps you on your toes.
Christopher Cook