Vermillion is very fine at both these points, her mezzo timbre (the role is properly for soprano) adding warmth to her finely drawn line. Kruse is admirable too, fining down his ringing tenor in that duet scene, and in the most demanding role, that of Simone, Dohmen is forceful and dangerous, with bass blackness and baritone urgency both at his command. But Chailly is the real star of the performance, pacing the opera so well that it seems over in no time, drawing richly complex but never muddy textures from his remarkable orchestra.

If Zemlinsky needs the Concertgebouw, my first thought on hearing the Alma Mahler songs was that what they have been needing all these years is orchestration. The Matthews brothers’ scoring points up her kinship with Zemlinsky (her teacher) and allows her vocal lines to expand in a way that her piano versions can seem to inhibit. She might have written a fine opera, on a subject as gamey as those Zemlinsky himself sought out. But here again, exquisitely though Vermillion sings these songs, Chailly must take at least half the credit. Each song is taken faster than in most recordings with piano, and every one of them gains from it in impulsive urgency. In both Zemlinsky’s opera and Alma Mahler’s songs the recording leaves nothing to be desired: the colours are rich but beautifully clean.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [12/1997]