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Schreker: Irrelohe

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4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
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Track Listings

Disc: 1

1 Vorspiel zum Act I
2 Act I - Einst war ich schön, einst war ich jung
3 Act I - Bin wieder da
4 Act I - Was ist denn?
5 Act I - "Einst war ich schön, einst war ich jung..."
6 Act I - Peter, Peter, so mach doch auf!
7 Act I - Dies ist das Ende
8 Vorspiel zum Act II
9 Act II - Prächtiges Korn, Müller!
10 Act II - Schönen Tag, Herr Pfarrer!
11 Act II - lhr habt's Ieicht mit eurem Zeug da
12 Act II - Wilde Gesellen! Was sie nur wollen?
13 Act II - Laß es, Christl! Es ist ja so lang her
14 Act II - Verwandlungsmusik
15 Act II - So wie ihr sie schildert, Herr
16 Act II - Ah! Dies mußte sein!
17 Act II - Eva! So erhieltet ihr meinen Brief und kamt?

Disc: 2

1 Act II - Am Kreuzweg, dort wo die Buchen steh'n
2 Act II - Bin wieder da
3 Act II - O Herr, der Brief
4 Vorspiel zum Act III
5 Act III - Wo gehst du hin, Peter?
6 Act III - Szene 2
7 Act III - lch bin gekommen, weil ich mich fürchte
8 Act III - Peter, Peter! - lch komme, Mutter!
9 Act III - Szene 5
10 Act III - Nun also, Forster!
11 Act III -'s ist nicht geheuer auf Irreloh
12 Act III - Tausend Freuden des jungen Lebens
13 Act III - Wenn Ein's in Treuen das Andre nicht läßt
14 Act III - Hoch Graf Heinrich! Hoch das Brautpaar!
15 Act III - Einst war ich schön! Einst war ich jung
16 Act III - lch hab' doch stets nur Gutes gewollt

Editorial Reviews

"Sony Classical is delighted to offer lovers of singing another ten complete recordings from the RCA Red Seal, CBS/Sony Classical and Eurodisc catalogues. The latest instalment of this wide-ranging series not only features some of the greatest voices of the last century but also spotlights once popular works that have been unduly neglected in recent times.

The new batch also features two central-European landmarks from the 1920s. Irrelohe, a Gothic horror story of rape, pillage and arson by the Austrian composer Franz Schreker, was premiered in 1924. The thoroughly committed (Gramophone) 1989 live Austrian Radio recording stars Luana De Vol, Monte Pederson, Heinz Zednik and Eva Randová. Wrote the BBC Music Magazine, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Peter Gülke gives a suitably fiery reading of the score. Another essential buy for the collector of musical decadence and degeneracy . "

Product details

  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.59 x 4.96 x 1.02 inches; 5.86 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Sony Masterworks
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2017
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 6 minutes
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ August 11, 2017
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Sony Masterworks
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073SMTG8P
  • Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ Canada
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 2
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • G.D.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Simply fabulous
    Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    It must be one of the great misfortunes of the musical world that this recording is out of the catalogue. Irrelohe is, in the opera, the name of the castle of Count Heinrich, and would translate something along the line of "capricious flame". The name should be rather suggestive of what the opera is like, musically; Schreker decadent expressionist jugendstiel is strongly symbolist, lush and opulent and at times quite dissonant. Richard Strauss' Elektra might be the most obvious comparison. It is sumptuously orchestrated, but the most impressive thing is Schreker's ability, despite the almost constant over-the-top frenzied juxtapositions of extreme emotions and kaleidoscopic swirls of atmospheres, to hold the structure together. The result is a remarkably cogent and effective work that really packs a punch. In fact, I'm ready to claim it's nothing short of a masterpiece.

    And it is wonderfully realized here by the Vienna Singverein and Symphony Orchestra under Peter Gülke and a strong cast of soloists. It is a live recording, something which is not really recognizable; no complaint about the sound. Urgently recommended.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Steve Kusaba
    5.0 out of 5 stars superb music
    Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    And after all that, the character wrote a string quartet! Har har har! A very fine opera.
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  • M. J. Painter
    5.0 out of 5 stars the singers are also very good. If you enjoy discovering new pieces by forgotten ...
    Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018
    It's a well-recorded, but largely unknown piece of music. The Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, as listed—I've sent in a correction request, but they haven't done anything about it) plays very well, the singers are also very good.

    If you enjoy discovering new pieces by forgotten composers, this is one for you!
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  • Classic Music Lover
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best intro to a Schreker opera
    Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2007
    Of the numerous operas Franz Schreker wrote, this is probably the best one to sample first. Compared to the others, the plot is actually understandable (Schreker wrote all of his own libretti and they are rather complicated, usually focusing on deep-seated sexual or personality dysfunctions -- similar to the operas of his compatriot Zemlinsky).

    If you like Korngold's "Die Tote Stadt" or some of Richard Strauss' more lurid/dramatic early operas (Salome and Elektra in particular), you'll likely enjoy this opera as well. In Irrelohe (it means "Crazy Fire"), you'll encounter the sumptuous orchestration and soaring vocal lines that characterize so much of this composer's output ... but this opera is more compact in its utterance and form, thereby making it an easier listen. You'll hear some of Schreker's most thrilling music he ever penned -- particularly in the Third Act wedding scene and final denouement, plus the concluding scene wherein the two main characters find new life in a new dawn (sort of a "Gotterdammerung meets Phoenix" moment).

    This CD was produced from a live recording made by Austrian Radio, but you wouldn't know it without reading the program notes -- there's no applause and the audience is inaudible. The soloists (I don't recognize any of them) are very fine, and the Vienna Symphony and Singverein Chorus under conductor Peter Gulke provide rich accompaniment.

    Some critics consider Der Ferne Klang, Die Gezeichneten and Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessen to be superior operas to Irrelohe. While I agree that Gezeichneten ("The Branded Ones") is a great work, musically speaking I put it and Irrelohe on the same plane, with Schreker's other operas further down the list. Unfortunately, this recording is almost impossible to find at the moment, but it's well-worth tracking down.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • Dan Betelmann
    5.0 out of 5 stars I Agree that it's Fabulous
    Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2012
    Unlike at least one other reviewer, I would not put Franz Schreker's Irrehlohe on the same plane as his Die Gezeichneten, or Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessen for that matter, but it's still deserves a strong recommendation. Another of the composer's lush, sensual music dramas revolving around sexual themes, it is given a luminous performance in this live recording. There is a version of the opera available on the MDG label which I've not heard, so I can't insist that you pursue a copy of this out-of-print release instead. Do, however, pursue the work itself in one form or another -- as with the composer's other operas, it gives glorious testimony to Schreker's talents. Recommended.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • STEWART CROWE
    5.0 out of 5 stars There are not enough superlatives to heap on this-the work, the performance and the recording. THE bargain of 2017! Unmissable.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This reissue in 24Bit remastered sound is an absolute must for all lovers of late 19th/early 20th century white hot late Romantic music-music in the idiom of Strauss, Korngold, von Reznicek, Zemlinsky and not forgetting early Schoenberg.
    The problem for composers like Schrecker was that there was a contemporary master of the idiom, and all of the above were compared unfavourably to Strauss at one time or another!

    Schrecker was seen as the “next great thing” in German opera after Strauss, but his Jewish background put paid to his career at its height, and he died aged just 56 in 1934.
    His style is more progressive than Strauss, with far more oriental and Second Viennese School influences,but always keeping within the bounds of tonality.

    Die Ferne Klang-his first opera-was his greatest success and is probably the best known still today, and the work on this set –Irrelohe-was if not a failure after its 1924 Cologne première under no less than Otto Klemperer , then not a roaring success either and there has been only one post war staged production to date!

    The recording here was made by ORF from a 1989 concert performance in Vienna’s Musikverein under Peter Gülke, a conductor and musicologist who has been showered with awards over a long career for his work in uncovering and reviving rarely performed works from all centuries, and who has become arguably THE Schrecker specialist of our era.

    The plot of Irrelohe- a village name “cribbed” from a real place in Bavaria “Irrenlohe”-resembles a Grimm’s Fairy Tale combined with the plot of Ruddigore –with some Kraft-Ebbing thrown in. It is gloriously decadent nonsense, though nowhere near the complexities of its contemporary Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
    In brief, the picturesque Alpine village is overlooked by an intimidating castle in which dwells the local Count-currently the young Heinrich. (Bluebeard and Manfred live just down the road).
    Peter is the 20 something son of Lola, a tavern owner and who is found questioning his mother as to who is father is, and as to why there such an air of foreboding in the village. Lola tells him that the local aristocracy (Sir Despard?) is cursed, and inevitably ends up seizing and raping a village maiden-frequently on her wedding night-following which the guilt drives him insane and he dies a grim death.
    (Makes you wonder why they don’t get married in the next village..but I digress)
    As to his father?..best not to ask!
    Christobald, an aged leader of a troop of itinerant minstrels turns up and tells Peter that he was once engaged to Lola, but she fell victim to the then Count and the marriage was called off. It begins to dawn on Peter who his father might be, and he immediately begins to feel the stirrings of madness.
    Eva, his fiancée arrives, and he struggles with his conscience while she burbles on about how attractive Count Heinrich is-and how he resembles Peter!
    Act 2 sees Eva’s father, a miller, lament that his barn has burnt down, and has anyone noticed the series of fires that occur whenever travelling minstrels visit the village?
    In a separate scene,Christobald, who has a second career as a Pyromaniac sings of the cleansing and purifying qualities of arson.
    Eva visits the castle (why?) –and she and Heinrich fall for each other. He feels the madness encroaching, but through sheer willpower resolves not to touch Eva (the least of her worries!) until they are married-to which proposal she agrees.

    Peter reluctantly accepts the situation, but begs Eva not to dance at her wedding.
    On the wedding day, Peter is gripped by the curse and asks Lola to chain him up-but inevitably he escapes and gatecrashes the festivities rampant with lust for Eva. Despite Eva’s plea to Heinrich not to harm his brother, they fight and Peter is killed.
    Heinrich is racked with guilt at his fratricide.
    Christobald has meanwhile slipped away from the Glyndebourne Touring Arsonists Company and sets fire to the castle which burns down-but the lovers escape and with the curse cleansed face a bright and happy future.

    This is by no means the most turgid plot, but it premiered at a time when the fashion was for psychobabble infused libretti intended to throw light on the human condition, and a good old melodrama in the style of Il Trovatore or The Flying Dutchman was not what audiences wanted it seems.
    Musically-I think it is fabulous, but then I LOVE the extravagant excess Romanticism of the period.
    Great swathes of exotic, lush orchestration flow over the listener, as powerful as FROSCH and far more inventive and melodic than Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane, composed 5 years later and which I would have to suggest is more than “inspired” by this work!

    The recording by ORF is spacious and detailed and the Wiener Symphoniker is nothing less than magnificent, with super lush string tone in the best Viennese manner, resplendent brass and all the percussive effects wonderfully caught.
    The scoring is vast-6 horns, 5 trumpets, doubled woodwind, 9 percussionists, double timps and a raised kettle drum-PLUS-an onstage band with-another 6 horns, woodwind-and an organ!
    The recording catches the different perspectives effectively, and though a live performance there is little or no intrusive stage or audience noise.

    Peter Gülke sweeps us along on a magic carpet of sonic excess, judging each tempo to perfection it seems to me, though I have nothing to compare it with.
    Vocally it is a triumph, the cast being comprised of regulars with the Wiener Staatsoper Company.
    The tenor is Austrian Michael Pabst, a stalwart of Vienna, Salzburg and Bayreuth who sadly does not have an extensive discography. His usual roles were such as Erik, David, Lohengrin and Herod, and I have nothing but praise for his impassioned firm tenor-with a fearless and ringing top line, which he needs as Schrecker does not spare him.
    Monte Pedersen is the sonorous Peter, a fine baritone who died tragically young (I saw him once in Vienna in Tales of Hofmann where he was magnificent as all 4 “villains”), and who is a triumph in the live Vienna recording of Enescu’s Oedipe. It is hard to imagine the role of Peter better sung or acted.
    Eva Randova is in fine voice as Lola, much better than as Ortrud in the Solti Lohengrin, steady mellifluous and impassioned.

    The big surprise for me is the Eva of Luana DeVol. She has over time received some scathing reviews-particularly on amazon-but in 1989 she was the Toast of Vienna, and she is frankly dazzling in this performance. She soars effortlessly-and she has to soar a lot-so that her impassioned duets with Heinrich are sheer luxury!
    Among the comprimario roles- some of which are doubled for this recording-Heinz Zednik and Helmut Wildhaber will need no recommendation, Zednik’s Christobald being nigh on a show stealing performance!

    I missed this on its original release in 1995 so I cannot comment on how the sound has improved-it’s great anyway-nor do I know if a libretto was included. Sadly, as is the usual case with these reissues there is only a brief act by act synopsis-and even that is not entirely accurate!- and I can only say “ good luck finding a libretto or a vocal score!”-but the diction in this performance is exemplary, and the German is not archaic so if you have even passable German you will be able to follow the action.

    This is a work that deserves to be heard-of course opera houses are busy with premieres by Brett Dean, Turnage and Adès-just what the paying public want to hear!-and the sheer scale of the work is costly, but more concert performances would be welcome and well supported I feel sure!
    Meanwhile-don’t miss this at its paltry price-just sit back and wallow!
    What a discovery!! 5 Stars of course-it REALLY deserves them!! Stewart Crowe.
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  • Milan Valden
    4.0 out of 5 stars 80%
    Reviewed in Germany on July 12, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Sehr schön und sehr gut!
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  • Classicdavid
    4.0 out of 5 stars The original is best.....
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Great opera, so the 4-star rating is because it comes with no libretto. I recommend one seeks out the original release, which does (with full English translation). I have them both, and the sound on the original release is perfectly acceptable.
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  • M JONES
    5.0 out of 5 stars great music
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    if you like full-on romantic opera, this is for you. Good recording
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