Search - Alexander von Zemlinsky, Armin Jordan, Iris Vermillion :: Zemlinsky: Une Tragédie Florentine

Still almost unknown to the public a mere fifteen years ago, the Viennese composer Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) is now enjoying wide acclaim. In his Florentine Tragedy, after Oscar Wilde, first performed in 1917, the story of the rich merchant Simone and his wife Bianca, who discover their love only when Bianca goads her husband into killing her lover Guido Bardi, we are already confronted with the ?femme fatale? of Berg?s Lulu. Though a ?chamber opera? in its running time and small cast, this work is anything but a miniature: its rich orchestration and Wagnerian vocal writing cry out for a powerful, passionate reading, which is exactly what it gets in this tremendous live performance recorded by Radio France, conducted by one of Zemlinsky?s foremost champions, Armin Jordan, and featuring three singers with wide experience of the composer?s lush style.