Zemlinsky: Eine florentinische Tragödie

COMPOSERS: Zemlinsky
LABELS: NAIVE
ALBUM TITLE: Zemlinsky - Eine florentinische Tragödie
WORKS: Eine florentinische Tragödie
PERFORMER: Iris Vermillion, Viktor Lutsiuk, Albert DohmenRadio France POArmin Jordan
CATALOGUE NO: 4987

The one-act Florentine Tragedy,



after Oscar Wilde’s nasty but stylish



Renaissance drama, is one of the first



works whose revival in the 1970s



sent the long-neglected Zemlinsky’s



reputation into steep ascent. This



Radio France production, of a public



performance from September 2003,



is a powerful account of this gripping



work which, on its own, can be



heartily recommended.



However, there is also Riccardo



Chailly’s magnificent 1997 recording



with the Concertgebouw (in which



Iris Vermillion and Albert Dohmen,



as here, take the roles of Bianca and



Simone). Generally speaking Naïve’s



recording favours the voices more,



at the expense of some orchestral



detail – a drawback in a composer



like Zemlinsky, whose scores are



full of subtle polyphonic substance



and colour. Armin Jordan tends



towards slightly more relaxed tempos,



while Chailly grips from first to last.



Vermillion and Dohmen are ideally



cast in both recordings: if anything



Dohmen now brings a greater, baleful



authority to his role as the cuckolded



but finally triumphant husband,



whereas Viktor Lutsiuk’s Prince Guido



seems a little more lightweight than



Heinz Kruse on Chailly’s recording.



All told, two very fine versions of a still



too-little-known masterwork – but



this new version can’t quite match



Chailly (who also includes six Alma



Mahler songs) for sheer theatrical



intensity. Calum MacDonald