The score employs substantial forces and parodies many styles. In this 2019 Weimar recording, the three main principals work hard at their vocally punishing roles: Máté Sólyom-Nagy as Lanzelot, Oleksandr Pushniak as the Dragon and Emily Hindrichs as Elsa, the woman they fight over. Dominik Beykirch is the secure conductor.

Máté Sólyom-Nagy projects warmth and dignity in the titlerole while Emily Hindrichs navigates Elsa’s stratospheric line with remarkable aplomb

Is Lanzelot any good? In my opinion, it is magnificent. Weimar’s production won Opernwelt’s 2020 prize for revival of the year, and even on CD it consistently challenges and entertains...With its galaxy of styles and timbres, his music creates a world of wonders...The recorded sound is exemplary, capturing the sheer noise of the grand finale to freedom as clearly as the moments of tender stillness.

The score may sometimes be dramatically unwieldy, but it’s gleefully eclectic and full of wonderfully imaginative touches, with 12-note passages, baroque pastiche, excursions into jazz and copious use of aleatoric techniques. It’s a curiosity certainly, but a fascinating one.