CD:
Korngold's Die tote Stadt - Finnish National Opera

Korngold’s masterpiece about loss and isolation is vividly brought to life in this audio recording extracted from the filmed live performance.

Korngold was just 23 when his most celebrated stage work was premiered in 1920 by no less than Otto Klemperer. The rich orchestration and brilliant bel canto vocal writing is here superbly realised by a cast led by Klaus Florian Vogt and Camilla Nylund, with "conducting to die for” (The Guardian ★★★★★) from Mikko Franck.

"Korngold’s music is marvellous throughout. Vogt (...) has, besides the required stamina, also the beauty of tone and the ringing top notes to allow him to ride over the orchestra. His youthful timbre and intelligent phrasing made him the most consummate Paul I have heard, whether live or on a recording. I hope some record company has grabbed the opportunity to record this production, since Vogt was not alone in vocal brilliance. Marietta’s role is also enormously taxing, but Camilla Nylund sang it with the same assurance as Vogt, actually on a par with Katarina Dalayman’s reading in Stockholm. Mikko Franck, Artistic Director and General Music Director of the Finnish National Opera, is a charismatic conductor and there was an extraordinary glow to the orchestra. With analytic clarity, he laid bare every strand of Korngold’s masterly orchestral colours. I regard 'Die tote Stadt' as one of the greatest operas of the first quarter of the 20th century and the Finnish National Opera’s production makes it stand out as a true masterpiece, scenically and musically.” (Seen and Heard International)


"Sheer orchestral seductiveness... undoubtedly a musical triumph" (Gramophone)

Genre Opera
Production year 2010
Orchestra / Band Finnish National Opera
Stage Director Kasper Holten
Producer Klaus Pylkkanen
Production Company Finnish National Opera
Sound Engineer Samuli Liikanen
Conductor Mikko Franck
Soloist Klaus Florian Vogt
Soloist Camilla Nylund