Scots-born composer Eugen d'Albert established his career in Germany, considered himself a German composer, and his 21 operas (written in German) are saturated with the musical language of Germanic post-Romanticism. Der Golem (1926) came from late in his career, and while its Frankfurt premiere was considered a success, it has not held the stage. This MDG recording comes from a first-rate production at Theater Bonn in 2010. The Jewish legend of a 16th century Prague Rabbi who created and gave life to a sympathetic but ...
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Scots-born composer Eugen d'Albert established his career in Germany, considered himself a German composer, and his 21 operas (written in German) are saturated with the musical language of Germanic post-Romanticism. Der Golem (1926) came from late in his career, and while its Frankfurt premiere was considered a success, it has not held the stage. This MDG recording comes from a first-rate production at Theater Bonn in 2010. The Jewish legend of a 16th century Prague Rabbi who created and gave life to a sympathetic but ultimately dangerous creature foreshadows Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The score has moments of soaring lyricism, and the vocal writing, too, is lyrical. The composer's imagination becomes more engaged with the subject as the story moves along, so the three acts are progressively more compelling and deeply felt, with a heightened musical pay-off in the final scenes. The Bonn forces, led by Stefan Blunier, give it their all and make as strong a case as possible for the opera. Beethoven...
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