Franz Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound) was a huge success at its 1912 premiere in Frankfurt and it established Schreker as one of the foremost opera composers of his time, but with the rise of the Third Reich his works fell out of favor and, like those of Korngold (which they resemble in many ways) never quite found their way back into the standard repertoire. Recordings like this one, taken from a live 2010 performance at the Augsburg Theater, ought to bring this piece to the attention of the broad ...
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Franz Schreker's opera Der ferne Klang (The Distant Sound) was a huge success at its 1912 premiere in Frankfurt and it established Schreker as one of the foremost opera composers of his time, but with the rise of the Third Reich his works fell out of favor and, like those of Korngold (which they resemble in many ways) never quite found their way back into the standard repertoire. Recordings like this one, taken from a live 2010 performance at the Augsburg Theater, ought to bring this piece to the attention of the broad audience it deserves. After a lovely prelude, the first scenes of the opera get it off to something of a slow start, but by the time the composer hits his stride toward the end of the first act, the music never lets up in its inspired, rhapsodic outpouring. The story is somewhat implausible, which may be part of the reason the opera has failed to catch on: a composer forsakes the love of a good woman and spends his life in the consuming pursuit of an elusive sound. At the end of their...
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