What bothers me a bit on this recording, is the very loud applause faded, the manifestly refers in some places not to music but to an action on the stage, of which the receiver of a CD naturally can not notice. Live recordings are all well and good (and for musicals even more than at concerts), but something should be possible to dampen that.
The musical itself is a bit bulky (I do not mean that it would be bad, or I did not like). The story is told that is devastated and leaves little room for optimism: Kristina married Karl-Oskar and lead the hard life Småland farmers. After the fourth child, some crop failures and disasters one emigrates to America. Kristina is there not only plagued by homesickness, but of further economic failure and the death of Karl-Oskar's brother Robert, who has succumbed to the California gold rush ...
Even the world of the Småland farmer in the 19th century is quite elusive, the constantly produces sparkling religious issues (tensions between the Swedish state church and the free churches have a motive for emigration is a not to miss, meaning) are not comprehensible without further ado. Even that ensures that "Kristina" simply can not be suitable for mass production (which I totally do not adversely mean).
The music fits the action. Songs with catchy quality one seeks in vain (also "Summer Rose" and "Gold can turn to sand" are to only conditionally suitable). What is completely absent, is the patch cheerfulness many other musicals. The story is melancholy, and the music fits perfectly.
