Synopsis

Schoenberg's *Gurrelieder*, conducted by Pierre Boulez, draws its title from Gurra, a Danish castle. The composer, who would later be known as the self-proclaimed "bogeyman of 20th-century music," crafted this vast, romantic work on a scale approaching opera—a kind of post-Wagnerian *Tristan und Isolde*. The cast features Jessye Norman (soprano), Elizabeth Lawrence (mezzo-soprano), Kenneth Riegel (tenor), Walter Raffeiner (tenor), John Brocheler (bass), and Gerd Nienstadt (baritone). The