Marlis Petersen… takes off as the Christmas Elf and Friedemann Röhlig is a deliciously grumpy Old Fir Tree. The Tölz Boy's Choir sing like the angels they're supposed to be… Das Christ-Elflein is welcome for as a reminder of the late Romantic tradition of writing Christmas operas for children...

The Christmas fairy-tale involving the elf of the title, the Christ child, a fir tree and a sick girl (a mute part) cured by the intervention of the Christ child, is fairly mawkish but Pfitzner clothed is in music of Humperdinck-like melodiousness and light instrumentation... The musical setting lasts not much more than 75 minutes, consisting of an overture and several beautiful, often moving numbers. Ingenuous as they may be, they are unassumingly right for the simple sincerity of the story. They are played lovingly by the Munich Radio Orchestra under Claus Peter Flor's sympathetic baton. The most significant part is that of the title-role... The accomplished Marlis Petersen easily encompasses its appreciable difficulties singing with a crystalline tone and expressive feeling that recall the artistry of Lucia Popp.