Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922): Die drei Wünsche (Operette in einem Vorspiel und zwei Akten). Libretto: Leopold Krenn & Carl Lindau
Volker Vogel, Donna Ellen, Valery Serkin, Anna Siminska, Michael Heim, Orchester des Musik Theater Schönbrunn, Herbert Mogg
Johann Strauss did not at all think highly of Carl Michael Ziehrer, and the very thought that such a man might offer him competition would have offended his honor. In 1865 he wrote of his new rival, whom his publisher Haslinger had discovered as Vienna's new dance composer, »Talent! That the good Ziehrer doesn't have, and so nothing at all helps.« Ziehrer nevertheless went on to enjoy success. During 1885-93 he was the principal conductor of the Hoch- und Deutschmeister-Kapelle, where he came to embody the idea of the dashing military bandmaster, and in 1907 he succeeded Strauss as Imperial and Royal Court Ball Music Director. Ziehrer's waltzes, marches, and polkas were extremely popular in Vienna, and he wrote a total of twenty-two operettas. Catchy, peppy melodies were his strength, but he preferred to assign the instrumentation and arrangement of his operettas to others. It is thus quite probable that the arranger of his absolutely enchanting operetta Die drei Wuensche (The Three Wishes) was none other than Alexander Zemlinsky. Handwritten entries in the score point to this possibility. Whatever the case, the Schönbrunn Music Theater under Herbert Mogg has made a rewarding discovery here.
Recorded 2008 in Wien.
Released 2009.

Reviews:
»Ein Hörabenteuer für Freunde der leichten Muse.« (Die Presse 06 / 09)
»Amüsantes Werk mit hübscher Musik.« (Wiener Bonbons (Zeitschrift der Johann Strauss-Gesellschaft) Nr. 4 / 2010)