SCHREKER, F.: Gezeichneten (Die) (Salzburg Festival, 2005) (NTSC)

• Franz Schreker’s colourful score with its Mediterranean sheen is a long forgotten masterpiece on the opera stages



• Die Gezeichneten received its first performance in Frankfurt on April 1918, enjoying a lasting success and being staged in the course of the next few years at virtually all the opera houses capable of mounting so demanding a work with its huge cast and vast orchestral resources



• Banned during the Nazi era his music sank into oblivion, remaining literally unheard long after the National Socialist dictatorship was over. Not until 1979 did Die Gezeichneten return to the stage



• The soprano Anne Schwanewilms is the standout, with an icy radiance to her voice and a mesmerizing stage presence
  
  
• Kent Nagano led his ensemble in a masterfully paced reading of the score, showing an intuitive feel for Schreker’s palette with all its blends and subtle shading.
  
  
• The sets for the Salzburg production of Die Gezeichneten were inspired by a Renaissance Italian park, the famous sculpture park at Bomarzo