Franz Schreker's opera "Der ferne Klang" (1910) hadn't ever been performed in the United States until Sunday, when Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra gave the premiere at Avery Fisher Hall. With an altogther glorious cast of relatively uknown singers, particularly the dramatic German soprano Yamina Maamar, who I'm hoping will be in New York again soon, the ASO hasn't sounded this good I think ever. The score, which can only classified as modern Romantic, is bombastic, swooping, hummable, and downright catchy. Just when you're still reeling from an emotional ballad, you're thrown into a dervish of a czardas and your feet can't stop a-tappin.' Why hasn't this been staged in NY yet? Wake up, Jimmy, and give us some Schreker.
