Johann Strauss II�s Eine Nacht in Venedig, heard on this recording in a version prepared by Ernst Marischka and Erich Korngold for a 1923 Berlin revival, is modelled, like so many of his stage works, on Offenbach�s French operettas. When this recording appeared in 1955, The Gramophone critic wrote: �A Night in Venice (1883), with the canals running with schmaltz and many a German joke about macaroni and La donna being mobile, may put off the ultra austere, but I think you would have to be pretty stiff not to surrender� This set speaks for itself. Outside the world of the gramophone you would never expect to encounter an operetta with a cast like this one�. Otto Ackermann was an outstanding operetta conductor, capturing to perfection the elusive Viennese lilt and phrasing.