Karl TERKAL, opera arias
CD Relief CR 3007
For his ninetieth birthday (17 Otober 2009), the enterprising Swiss label Relief issued an operatic recital disc with some of the tenor’s best singing. Terkal (1919-1996) was perhaps Decca’s answer to Rudolf Schock and rightly so as the Viennese tenor possessed more vocal talent than we perhaps realised. The content of the CD gives a fair survey of his tenor talent including Der Evangelimann, Huguenots, Boheme, Zauberflote, Turandot, Rigoletto, Traviata, Hollaender and Hoffman. Terkal whom several will remember from his operetta recordings opposite Hilde Gueden or Mimi Coertse strangely enough is never mentioned in books on singers whether in Steane’s Grand tradition or Jens Fischer’s Grosse Stimmen. After listening to this CD one wonders why. Okay he’s not a Wunderlich or a Dermota but he certainly is as good, if not better than his contemporary Waldemar Kmentt. He certainly is musically accurate and overall displays sound musicianship. The voice is basically a lyric tenor which he uses with great intelligence and he possesses a wide ranging ability to sing role such as Tamino but also Les Huguenots or Wagner’s Rienzi. His operetta recordings are available on CD too and some of his performances are available on a cheap German CD label including a Traviata opposite Stich-Randall and Raoul in Les Huguenots (all sung in German) amongst others. Worthwile discovering if not a desert island tenor.
Rudi v.d. Bulck