LSO/Zhang – review

Barbican, LondonAlexander Zemlinsky's only symphonic poem, The Mermaid (Die Seejungfrau), based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale about the water nymph who yearned to experience human love, is still a bit of a rarity. Zemlinsky withdrew the score after its first performance in 1905, and it went unheard for almost 80 years; then a decade later, Riccardo Chailly's superb recording established it internationally. The London performances can still be counted on one hand, but it was the main wor...

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