ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942): Die Seejungfrau (First Recording of the new critical version), Sinfonietta, Op. 23 (arr. chamber orchestra Roland Freisitzer [b.1973]).

Description: Yes, you'll probably want this, Zemlinsky collectors. The composer made two big cuts in the score prior to rehearsal for its 1905 premiere: a hornpipe for offstage wind band and percussion in the first movement and a roughly five-minute passage headed in the score "in the realm of the Mer-witch", with a powerful climax and dissonant semitone clashes. The former is lost in firmly gummed-together manuscript pages but the latter was neatly cut out and preserved elsewhere and restored in the new critical edition recorded here (if there is anything else different, Antony Beaumont, the editor, does not mention it in his liner notes). The seemingly unnecessary slim-down of the 1934 Sinfonietta is the result of a commission by Ensemble Kontrapunkt and, since it results in some reorchestration, it will probably be of interest also but the Seejungfrau, now almost 48 minutes in length, is the main event. Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; John Storgårds.