With a libretto originally composed for a children’s Christmas celebration for use by the composer’s own fireside, Humperdinck’s first opera, Hänsel und Gretel, remains a huge and popular success.This is due in no small measure to its combination of enchanting German folk-tunes, both traditional and newly invented, and sumptuous Wagnerian orchestration. Here re-issued to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, this 1953 recording has acquired classic status, not only for the peerless contributions of Elisabeth Grümmer and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, but for Karajan’s faultless and imaginative handling of the score, a work he had never previously conducted.