Donald Satz wrote:

>Roy has received some very good recommendations for Zemlinsky recordings.
>Roger mentioned Die Siejungfrau on Chandos; I fully agree.  It's a great
>work and recording.  Roy, I forgot to bring this one up when writing you.
>It would be a fine entry-level cd.
>
>Roger also mentioned Zemlinsky's operas and the Lyric Symphony.  I'm
>not too keen on those works for entry into Zemlinsky's world.  They are,
>generally, deeper works than his non-vocal ones.  On the other hand, the
>first Zemlinsky works I ever heard were the operas recorded on Capriccio,
>and I had no trouble with them.  But, I was in a very strong late romantic
>mood at that time.

So you did take to the operas early.  The crazy thing is, the Capriccio
recordings were what I got interested in down the road.  Go figure.  Maybe
I just like being ornery.  (No maybe about it, actually.)

Still, you might have a point, though I think Serema is easy to like.  So
is The Dwarf and Kleider machen Leute.  Maybe Florentine Tragedy is pushing
it unless one likes "tough" German opera up front.  With Lyric Symphony, I
can speak only for myself.  I was knocked over when I first heard it.

But that Dausgaard Siejungfrau, no argument. That's where I'd start.
Absolutely.

Roger Hecht