"Charm" is not a word often applied to the psychologically murky music emanating from early 20th century Vienna, but it is certainly apropos here. Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker were both composers whose reputations were damaged by the twin hammers of Nazi conservatism and repressive postwar modernism, but their music is thankfully being heard once again. Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau ("The Mermaid"), based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen and premiered on the same concert as Schoenberg's Pelleas und ...
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"Charm" is not a word often applied to the psychologically murky music emanating from early 20th century Vienna, but it is certainly apropos here. Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker were both composers whose reputations were damaged by the twin hammers of Nazi conservatism and repressive postwar modernism, but their music is thankfully being heard once again. Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau ("The Mermaid"), based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen and premiered on the same concert as Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande in 1905, is the more popular of the two works here, continuing to evolve textually and receiving various performances since its modern premiere in 1984. The work contains tensions perhaps relating to Zemlinsky's then-recent loss of Alma Schindler to Mahler, and it departed from the Andersen story as it took shape. Conductor Vasily Petrenko, leading the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from which he was soon to depart, is especially adept at catching the mixture of emotions...
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