Die Nibelungen

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The film director Fritz Lang cast Gottfried Huppertz (1887-1937) in several of his films before asking him to write the original score for Die Nibelungen (1924), which he composed using the shooting script as a silent libretto. It was Huppertzs first major project and his mastery of orchestration is nothing short of remarkable. Huppertz wrote in a lush, late-Romantic idiom. With Die Nibelungen, he evokes Wagner's take on Teutonic mythology through a highly lyrical and orchestrally expansive score that resists being imitative. The music echoes Wagner without attempting to mimic it. At the same time, Huppertzs musical language resembles Alexander von Zemlinsky, Franz Schreker, Walter Braunfels and Eugene DAlbert. This recording presents a suite with highlights from Huppertzs original score for Die Nibelungen whose total length is more than four hours. The pieces for the suite were selected by Frank Strobel, Germanys leading film music conductor and musical director of this recording with the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony).