BORIS BLACHER (1903-1975): Preussisches Märchen.

Description: 'A Prussian Fairy-tale' is based on the various fictional versions of a true story concerning the exploits of a fake army captain, which exposed weaknesses in the social structure of the turn of the century German Empire. Sensitive to the inadvisability of presenting too specific a critique of Germany's history just after WWII, Blacher and his librettist, Heinz von Cramer, softened the edges of the political satire; the result is a send-up of pompous professional orthodoxy, a light mistaken-identity farce, and a lighthearted comedy of manners and the expectations of society. An element of the absurd (to contemporary eyes, irresistibly suggestive of Monty Python) is inserted into the production by the gender reversal of the soloists playing the protagonists' parents. Blacher's clever, thoroughly enjoyable score conceals sophisticated rhythmic mechanisms and sly musical in-jokes and references behind a veneer of elegant and enjoyable Stravinskyan neoclassicism. Suggestions of Blacher's teacher, Hindemith, are present in the harmony, and the whole is imbued with the spirit of operetta - Offenbach comes to mind - with the composer deliberately avoiding (or more accurately, concealing) any modernist tendencies for the purposes of the exercise. The same is true of the elegantly literal production, with period costumes and realistic sets. The production was restaged for filming in a studio, so the presentation resembles a TV show rather than a document of a staged performance. Deutsche Oper Berlin 1974. Lisa Otto, Gerti Zeumer (sopranos), Ivan Sardi, Manfred Röhrl (basses), Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Caspar Richter. 4:3 full-screen. PCM mono. NTSC all regions. 103 min.