Boris Blacher was one of the most important and most widely performed composers in post-war Germany. In his 1969 opera 200 000 Taler he adapted a short story by famed and popular Jewish author Scholom Aleichem and created a sophisticated milieu study around tailor Schimele Soroker and his family, who come to great fortune by winning the lottery.

This 1970 recording of the world premiere production stars a stunning Martha Mödl as Soroker’s wife and Günter Reich in the role of the shrewd tailor. Director Gustav Rudolf Sellner leads his fine cast meticulously through the comic and self-ironic material and supports the cliché-less score that Blacher conceived for Aleichem’s characters. Heinrich Hollreiser conducts the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin with insight and musical mastery.

“Blacher discovers forces and notions that move our century within the naive, unpretentious literary material at hand. … Without ever using Jewish melodies this score creates a kind of folklore of a setting that is fully Blacher’s own. Here lives a new style.” - Neue Zürcher Zeitung

“All of the performers found visible pleasure in their rewarding roles and characterised their parts as magnificent personas.” - Baseler Nachrichten

Cast:
- Ettie-Mennie: Martha Mödl
- Schimele Soroker: Günter Reich
- Bailke: Dorothea Weiss

Director: Gustav Rudolf Sellner

Recording of the World Premiere Production, Deutsche Oper Berlin, 1970.

Sound Format: PCM Mono
Picture Format: 4:3
DVD Format: DVD 9 / NTSC
Subtitle Languages: DE (Original Language), GB
Running Time: 96 mins
FSK: 0
Region Code: 0
Worldwide available