György Ligeti's only opera, Le Grand Macabre, is an entertaining, taut piece of musical theatre that sits somewhere between parody and ominous seriousness, between clowning and wisdom. Based on Michel de Ghelderode's play and set in the imaginary land of Breughelland, it follows Nekrotzar, alias the Grand Macabre, who has not only ambitions to suck blood but apocalyptic visions: he wants to bring about the end of the world personally, and fails.

Ligeti himself said its bizarre, exaggerated music was "far removed from the territory of Wagner, Strauss and Berg". It opens with a prelude for car horns and mixes collage, quotation, nonsense and genuine terror, a sense of the absurd that recalls the Dadaists, as bombastic as it is exuberant.

This production with the ORF Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elgar Howarth received the quarterly German Record Critics' Award. The cast includes Dieter Weller (Nekrotzar), Penelope Walmsley-Clark (Amanda), Olive Fredricks (Amando), Peter Haage (Piet vom Fass), Christa Puhlmann-Richter (Mescalina), Kevin Smith (Prince Go-Go), Ude Krekow (Astradamors) and Eirian Davies (Venus and Chief of the Secret Police), with the ORF Choir and the Arnold Schönberg Chor. Two CDs, total time 116'10".