JoAnn Falletta, conductor, Zemlinsky “The Mermaid”

“The piece is Zemlinsky’s The Mermaid, a piece that I fell in love with years ago.  It is based on the Andersen Fairy Tale (with the tragic ending, not the Disney one), and basically was Zemlinksy's "catharsis" for having been cruelly discarded by Alma Schindler, the great love of his life, for Gustav Mahler.  He identified with the mermaid who is cast off by the prince she saved.

Actually on the page is a poem I wrote which explains a bit more of what is a gentle obsession I have with the piece.  I have brought it to different orchestras and everyone has completely fallen under the spell of its charm and its heartbreak”.
– JoAnn Falletta

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