In September 1984, as part of the Berlin Festival Week, the Deutsche Oper Berlin staged the world premiere of German composer Aribert Reimann’s opera 'Die Gespenstersonate'. Based on the drama by the Swedish writer August Strindberg, the chamber opera tells the story of a student who muses about the inhabitants of a fancy-looking house. His crucial meeting with the Old Man pulls him into a world of intrigues, sickness, depression and murder. It plays in and around the presumably haunted house, which seems to drown its inhabitants in its sinister atmosphere.

Better known for his operas 'Lear' or 'Medea', Reimann established himself firmly as a stage composer from 1965 onwards.

'Die Gespenstersonate', being a modern chamber opera, was performed not on the great stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, but at the smaller Hebbel-Theater. Heinz Lukas-Kindermann’s stage direction sets the spectator under its gloomy spell, and the exquisite cast performing the demanding score stars Hans Günter Nöcker as the Old Man and David Knutson as the Student, as well as well-loved Martha Mödl as the Mummy.

"It is well worth listening to Reimann‘s score more than once. Two short intermezzi link three scenes together into a single uninterrupted work of great dramaturgical depth and density of expression thanks to the restrictions of the chamber music genre. It rewards repeated exploration." - Der Tagesspiegel

Cast:
- Der Alte: Hans Günter Nöcker
- Die Mumie: Martha Mödl
- Der Oberst: Horst Hiestermann
- Der Student Arkenholz: David Knutson
- Das Fräulein: Gudrun Sieber
- Johansson: Donald Grobe
- Bengtsson: William Dooley

World Premiere Recording
Deutsche Oper Berlin - Live recording from the Hebbel-Theater Berlin, 1984.
 
Stage Director: Heinz Lukas-Kindermann
Set and Costumes: Dietrich Schoras

Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Picture Format: 4:3
DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC
Subtitle Languages: DE (Original Language), GB, FR, ES, IT
Running Time: 88 mins
FSK: 0
Region Code: 0
Worldwide available