HERBERT: “THE AMERICAN GIRL.” Teresa Ringholz, soprano;...

HERBERT: “THE AMERICAN GIRL.” Teresa Ringholz, soprano; Eastman-Dryden Orchestra conducted by Donald Hunsberger. Arabesque 6561 (digital). The third volume of Arabesque’s continuing Victor Herbert survey misses an important opportunity--recording a substantial portion of “Natoma,” the composer’s one attempt at a grand opera, prized in its time (1911). Judging from the performance of the instrumental excerpts by Hunsberger’s bantamweight band, the world did not lose a great opera composer when Herbert switched to Broadway. The Eastman orchestra, however, lends the requisite buoyancy to the “American Girl” Two-Step and the McKinley Inauguration March. Ringholz is a properly winsome exponent of numbers from “Princess Pat” and “Orange Blossoms.” But, there, again, wouldn’t we be better off with complete recordings rather than tentative dips into the nostalgia pool?