How timely that a recording of Laci Boldemann’s first opera, a satire on totalitarianism told through the story of an emperor who insists on purveying ‘alternative facts’, should be discovered and published now. The tapes were found in Stockholm and capture, in passable sound, the work’s first performance at the Royal Swedish Opera on New Year’s Day 1965.

Svart är vitt – sa Kejsaren (‘Black is White – Said the Emperor’) was conceived as an opera for children and families, and has its roots in an abrupt question a young girl once posed to Boldemann’s wife Karin: ‘If Hitler was so evil, why did people do as he said?’ Boldemann himself had first-hand experience of that predicament, as he was forced to fight for the Nazis having moved from London, where he studied with Henry Wood, to Stockholm (he was born in Helsinki but had become a German citizen). Lennart Hellsing’s libretto after Karin’s scenario tells of a young boy’s entrance into the Emperor’s mysterious Oriental realm. The boy’s wily opportunism and moral optimism lead the Emperor to a spectacular moment of enlightenment, after which everyone lives freely and happily ever after. That’s 1960s Sweden for you.

If there’s one dramaturgical problem it’s the speed with which the Emperor undergoes his idealistic U turn from totalitarian grump to whimsical hippie. Apart from that, Svart är vitt is a more than respectable piece of high-end, family-orientated music theatre. Boldemann’s style is akin to that of Stravinsky and Hindemith – spiky, metallic and dramatically pointed until moments of gorgeous breakaway lyricism. The Princess’s ode to love is particularly moving, and we are reminded in Laila Andersson’s portrayal of a certain, beautifully clear vintage of Swedish soprano tone.

Boldemann’s tunes are idiosyncratic and strong. Sometimes the patter he writes for the characters of the Fool and the Runner is a little shallow, but he knows his opera: the bold unison melodies at the bottom of the small orchestra bring to mind Puccini; the ‘ensemble of thoughts’ technique he uses to close Act 1 has been employed by everyone from Mozart to Jake Heggie. Overall, Boldemann’s theatrical instincts are astute and clear. Easy to hear why the piece was a hit.