Pfitzner first wrote incidental music to a play of this name by a friend. Then in 1917 he turned it into an opera with dialogue. Here it is given with a narration replacing the dialogue. The Christmas fairy-tale involving the elf of the title, the Christ child, a fir tree and a sick girl (a mute part) cured by the intervention of the Christ child, is fairly mawkish but Pfitzner clothed it in music of Humperdinck-like melodiousness and light instrumentation, which is a far cry from his much better known Palestrina. Indeed, you might consider them written by different composers.

The musical setting lasts not much more than 75 minutes, consisting of an overture and several beautiful, often moving numbers. Ingenuous as they may be, they are unassumingly right for the simple sincerity of the story. They are played lovingly by the Munich Radio Orchestra under Claus Peter Flor’s sympathetic baton. The most significant part is that of the title-role, an elf given the Christ prefix through his good deeds. The accomplished Marlis Petersen easily encompasses its appreciable difficulties singing with a crystalline tone and expressive feeling that recall the artistry of Lucia Popp. Martina Rüping’s soprano sounds sufficiently light and boyish in the role of the Christ-child. Michael Volle’s full-bodied bass, well known in Lieder, sings powerfully as Ruprecht. The Tölzer Boys’ Choir offer their customary clarity of tone and word.

The live recording is well focused and spacious. It is a pity that texts and translations have not been provided, an essential for a British audience. That should not prevent those curious about an interesting byway of early-20th-century German music from buying this unusual issue.