[4][5] In the score program notes, Rouse commented on the inception of the piece, saying:As Alberich's whereabouts are unknown at the end of the Ring, it occurred to me that it might be engaging to return him to the stage, so to speak, so that he might wreak further havoc in what is quite literally the godless world in which Wagner has left us in the final pages of Götterdämmerung.
[1] Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times praised the concerto, saying, "...Rouse has a knack for outlandish gestures, a deep and abiding love of rock 'n' roll, a competitive obsession with getting orchestras to play louder than they ever have in the past, and a sense of humor.
"[4] Allan Kozinn of The New York Times also lauded the work, saying, "The notion of writing a sequel to Wagner's Götterdämmerung, and casting it as a percussion concerto, may seem odd, but it is vintage Christopher Rouse.
In Der Gerettete Alberich, a virtuosic percussion line portrays the title role, supported by a rich orchestral score that quotes Ring motifs and Led Zeppelin.
"[6] Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun gave lukewarm praise to the work, writing, "Some of what ensues in Der gerettete Alberich ('Alberich Saved') is a little obvious, even a little odd — a rock music outburst seems more tacked on than organic — but the finely structured, prismatically orchestrated piece adds up to a clever, rousing mini-epic.
Despite referring to the scoring as "blatant but imaginative," he opined:As is typical of the new wave of percussion concertos, Der gerettete Alberich (1997) works well enough in live performance where the physical theatre of a hyperactive soloist helps offset the unavoidable diffuseness of what one actually hears.
[8] In programming a 2013 concert celebrating the bicentennial of Richard Wagner's birth, conductor Marin Alsop said of Der gerettete Alberich:Rouse begins with the same music that closes the Ring.