Zemlinsky: Der Zwerg

This is a work that deliberately challenges audiences, but which is here played with a breathtaking combination of imagination and responsibility. Zemlinsky’s lush masterpiece is vividly presented... — Opera, February 2021 More…

Release Date: 22nd May 2020
Catalogue No: 2110657
Label: Naxos

Presto Editor's Choice

June 2020
Grammy Awards

63rd Awards (2021)

Nominee - Best Opera Recording

Zemlinsky: Der Zwerg

Elena Tsallagova (soprano), Emily Magee (soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor), Philipp Jekal (baritone), Deutsche Oper Berlin (opera company)
Donald Runnicles

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Based on Oscar Wilde’s story The Birthday of the Infanta, Zemlinsky’s single-act opera Der Zwerg is the tragic tale of a dwarf who is presented at court, falls in love with the beautiful Donna Clara, but is ultimately forced to see himself as others see him and to die of a broken heart. Preceded by Schoenberg’s Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34, Zemlinsky’s Romantic score is full of psychological intrigue. Is Der Zwerg a critique of society’s superficiality? Is it the composer’s self-portrait in his doomed affair with Alma Schindler? Director Tobias Kratzer’s stunning, transparent production creates a space in which each character is thrown into sharp relief in this ‘fine, noble and melancholy work’ (Bachtrack.com).

Reviews

February 2021

This is a work that deliberately challenges audiences, but which is here played with a breathtaking combination of imagination and responsibility. Zemlinsky’s lush masterpiece is vividly presented by the orchestra under Donald Runnicles, who balances flawlessly the complex textures of both scores.

June 2020

Kratzer’s contemporary staging of Zemlinsky’s 1922 one-acter centring on self-image and discrimination is astute and moving; Elena Tsallagova is marvellously unsympathetic as the brittle, Instagram-famous Princess, whilst British tenor David Butt Philip and actor Mick Morris Mehnert collaborate to powerful, ultimately agonising effect as the open-hearted but maligned Dwarf gifted to her as a birthday-present.

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Zemlinsky: Der Zwerg

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