Humperdinck: Dornroeschen

SCHIRMER; CHOR DES BAYERISCHEN RUNDFUNKS; MUENCHNER RUNDFUNKORCHESTER

Most people are unaware of the fact that Engelbert Humperdinck set not only Hansel and Gretel, certainly his most famous work, but also other fairy tales such as Snow White and The Seven Kids. We are now releasing for the first time on CD his musical fairy tale Sleeping Beauty with Brigitte Fassbaender as the narrator. On its premiere in 1902 the work met with what was unfortunately not only a positive reception; the reviewer for the Frankfurter Zeitung called the work a »virtuoso piece for the decoration painters and theater technicians,« and Humperdinck himself reacted not without irony when he termed his opera an »exhibition piece with a great deal of music.« While his music has more of an accompaniment function in its song scenes and functions above all as atmospheric reinforcement, it is especially in the larger instrumental segments, in the preludes and interludes, that Humperdinck finds his way to an extremely fine melodicism with a characteristic instrumentation and complex motivic work. These larger instrumental numbers – with the headings Prelude, Ballad, Wanderings, The Thorn Castle, and Festive Music – are also the ones that Humperdinck already prior to the premiere of the opera proper had joined together to form the suite Tone Paintings from Sleeping Beauty – which would remain the more successful of the two works.

Price: $48.98

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