FRANZ SCHREKER (1878-1934): Suite from the Opera The Birthday of the Infanta, Prelude to a Drama, Romantic Suite, Op. 14.

Description: The Prelude to a Drama is the concert overture of Schreker’s acclaimed opera Die Gezeichneten (1914), a lurid drama involving murder and madness. Conceived as a theatrical pantomime, The Birthday of the Infanta of 1908, with the suite created in 1923, adapts Oscar Wilde’s tragic tale of an ugly dwarf who dies of a broken heart (there is only one other recording of the suite available), while the Romantic Suite (1903) fully explores the young composer’s colorfully detailed and translucent orchestration and lyrical expressiveness. RSO Berlin; JoAnn Falletta.