Zemlinsky’s one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy is based on an unfinished play by Oscar Wilde. Set in 16th-century Florence, the opera tells of jealousy, betrayal and ultimately murder, and was described as ‘a splendid work’ by Zemlinsky’s pupil and brother-in-law, Arnold Schoenberg.

Cast:
- Heike Wessels (Bianca)
- Sergey Skorokhodov (Guido Bardi)
- Albert Dohmen (Simone)

'The orchestral playing was faultless, the singing superb. By the end, there was a sense of audience complicity in something monstrous. A very fine achievement.’ - The Guardian (on the performance)

Mezzo-soprano Petra Lang is the soloist in the rarely performed Six Maeterlinck Songs. One of the most sought-after performers in the Austro-German song repertoire, Lang captures perfectly the dark foreboding and eerie, dreamlike quality of the songs.

Both works reference Zemlinsky’s unrequited love for Alma Schindler, who eventually chose the international star conductor Mahler as her husband. Zemlinsky never got over this, and when Alma saw A Florentine Tragedy she was furious at what she saw as the depiction of herself, Mahler and her affair with Walter Gropius.

This recording is the only currently available physical/CD pairing of these two works, both of which are rarely recorded and not readily available elsewhere.

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, on 22 September 2010 (Six Maeterlinck Songs) and 26 September 2012 (A Florentine Tragedy).