Re-release of sold-out C549012

By the term ‘radio opera’, people understood, above all, the adaptation of stage works for radio. The first attempts were carried out in Berlin and soon commissions were offered for original works in the medium. General comprehensibility was the most important principle and the listener was supposed to have an exciting listening experience with the help of modern technical means. Werner Egk (d. 10 July 1983), too, although still lacking in dramatic musical experience, sensed the fascination emanating from this avant-garde genre. The experienced conductor Hermann Scherchen stood by him as advisor; even still, the unerring certainty of purpose, with which Egk seized upon this project does indeed seem remarkable.

Egk wrote his libretto himself, drawing upon texts from historical sources and disassociating himself from the operatic genre in all clarity with the subtitle “Report and Portrait”. The work’s basic idea, a synthesis of epic and pictorially dramatic elements gave Egk the necessary freedom to incorporate the idea of the radio opera as well as foreign (to this genre) characteristics from oratorio and speech theatre into his conception. His chief model here was Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex.

The booklet contains liner notes and synopsis in German and English language and the German libretto.

Cast:
- Columbus: Ernst Gutstein
- Ferdinand: Fritz Wunderlich
- Isabella: Lia Montoya
- First Councillor: Hans Herbert Fiedler
- Second Councillor: Willy Ferenz
- Third Councillor: Wolfgang Anheisser
- A Monk: Max Pröbstl
- A Herald: Georg Pappas
- A Cantor: Friedrich Lenz
- First Speaker: Romuald Pekny
- Second Speaker: Rolf Boysen
- Three Emigrants: Hans Stein, Karl Hanft, Eduard Linkers
- Four Soldiers: Wolfried Lier, Til Kiwe, Siegurd Fitzek, Walter Holton
- A Herald: Peter Eschberg

Recording: 21–26 January 1963, Herkulessaal Munich Residence