BaL 17.01.15 - Berg: Wozzeck

[Belgrove]

... at ROH - a brilliant show where Matthias Goerne ends up in a water tank at the end.

Wasn't it just! Would that a recording had been made from those performances. The orchestra under Pappano was incandescent. Abbado and Dohnanyi will have to do in its stead.

[ardcarp]

borrowed the LPs from the library, ripping it off onto a reel-to-reel recorder for future use

It takes you back, doesn't it? I'm not sure 'ripping off' was in my technical armory then; it was more a question of shoving the tape-recorder mike in front of the gramophone speaker.

Anyway, Wozzeck (and Woyzeck) were high on our agenda as music students. I really enjoyed studying it then though have hardly encountered it (except as a 2nd Viennese School icon) since, and am very much looking forward to the programme.

[aeolium]

I enjoyed the WNO Wozzeck some years ago with fine orchestral accompaniment by Lothar Koenigs and the WNO Orchestra, a great performance by Christopher Purves in the title role and excellent support from the cast, particularly Clive Bayley's Doctor and Wioletta Chodowicz's Marie. The programme booklet (with its cover adorned by a picture of baked beans!) was really informative, with a detailed musical commentary by Simon Philippo. The production helped me to understand the work better, even if I can't look at a plate of baked beans on toast in quite the same way again

[HighlandDougie]

....at ROH - a brilliant show where Matthias Goerne ends up in a water tank at the end.

I went to the first night (it was a treat for my birthday as it is one of my favourite works) and, as the lighting designer for the show is an old friend who insisted we go along with him, somehow ended up talking to Matthias Goerne at the post-show party. When I made some feeble comment about the tyranny of directors these days, making their singers endure things like water tanks, he said, "No, no - that was my idea". A martyr to his art - and someone who certainly enjoys a good party!

[edashtav]

I enjoyed the WNO Wozzeck some years ago with fine orchestral accompaniment by Lothar Koenigs and the WNO Orchestra, a great performance by Christopher Purves in the title role and excellent support from the cast, particularly Clive Bayley's Doctor and Wioletta Chodowicz's Marie. The programme booklet (with its cover adorned by a picture of baked beans!) was really informative, with a detailed musical commentary by Simon Philippo. The production helped me to understand the work better, even if I can't look at a plate of baked beans on toast in quite the same way again

I, too, attended this production when it went on tour and like you, aeolium, was carried away by the marvellous accompaniment ( an insufficient word in this context) provided by Lothar Koenigs and the WNO. I found the performance compelling although at one point the touring props didn't quite fill the wide stage leading to inappropriate mirth.

[Stanley Stewart]

A on 3 will also broadcast Wozzeck performed by BBC Scottish SO/Donald Runnicles, on Thursday, 22 Jan, 14.00-15,35 hrs:

Wozzeck Thomas Mayer
Marie Elena Zhidova
Drum Major Thomas Blondelle
Captain Tom Randle
Doctor Nathan Berg
Andres Michael Pflumm
First Apprentice Andrew Greenan
Second Apprentice James Cleverton
Idiot Peter Van Hulle
Margret Jennifer Johnston
A Soldier Christopher Bowen

[Orphical]

Does anyone else remember a Scottish Opera production conducted by (not yet Sir) Simon Rattle with his then wife, Elise Ross, as Marie? I can't remember the date, must have been late 80s or early 90s. It was sung in English and the translation missed a lot of the nuance's of Buechner's play, with no attempt made to recreate a number of puns. However, the final scene was extremely well done with local children and Glasgow accents that made this much more real than the rest of the opera sung in stilted English.

Now that the work is out of copyright, perhaps a new, more theatrical translation can be commissioned? The old one was used later by Opera North as well and again I felt I wanted it sung in German. As far as recordings are concerned, I have the Dohnányi but only on LP, so I hope to listen carefully (might have to be the podcast because I will be out most of Saturday!). Boehm with Evans/ Silja in Vienna sounds good - I believe there is a radio recording conducted by Erich Kleiber from Buenos Aires but it appears not to be available. Did Carlos K ever record the piece for radio - plans to record it for EMI appear to have been dropped?

Yes i do recall the production but not the date i'm afraid. Was n't it premiered at the Edinburgh Festival that year? I also re call a clean shaven Ben Luxon in the title role>

[CallMePaul]

Yes i do recall the production but not the date i'm afraid. Was n't it premiered at the Edinburgh Festival that year? I also re call a clean shaven Ben Luxon in the title role>

It must have been longer ago than I thought - one of those productions that sticks in the memory! In fact my regular visits to Glasgow ceased in 1985 so it must have been before then. Given Sir Simon's other 2nd Viennese School recordings, how about a complete Wozzeck and maybe a Lulu as well? I definitely saw Simon Rattle in the pit (not yet knighted) but he may not have conducted a new production. My programme is likely to have got lost in a series of house moves in the 80s and 90s.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I refer the honourable Forumistas Orphical and CallMePaul to posts 10 and/or 11 above.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Interesting that the reviewer praises Abbado's Vienna recording for the detailed sound, which she attributes to the recently introduced digital technology. Somewhat misguided, I should say, as DG digital recording at this time was vastly inferior to the analogue recordings of most competitors. As for "detail", the digital contribution was relative insignificant.

[Pabmusic]

If only someone could find a recording of Boult's first British (broadcast) performance!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If only someone could find a recording of Boult's first British (broadcast) performance!

- the broadcast that Berg heard with great approval. Excerpts certainly exist - they were broadcast in the late '80s. Very poor sound quality (not surprising for the early '30s) but essential for all lovers of this work.

[Pabmusic]

:... Excerpts certainly exist - they were broadcast in the late '80s. Very poor sound quality (not surprising for the early '30s) but essential for all lovers of this work.

I'm envious.

[edashtav]

I found Gillian Moore to be a useful guide but I did wonder whether she she concentrated too much on explaining the story of the opera at the expense of deeper analysis of the merits of the various recordings. Yes, Abbado's sound in the final D minor interlude was ravishing but I was left wondering whether he and his engineers were overwhelmed by the VPO's warmth resulting in it being too forward leaving the singers recessed and lacking sufficient body.

Good to get a thumbs up for the Bruno Maderna DVD version - I've found Maderna to be a reliable guide to 20th century works.

Above all, I marvelled at how much greater is the capacity of today's singers, players and conductors to give an accurate but emotionally rounded performance of Berg's great score than those redoubtable characters in , say, the early NYPO version under Mitropoulos - the performance that opened my eyes to Berg fifty years ago. When it comes to Berg, the values of HIPP seem to be inverted.

[aeolium]

Curses - I missed the first part of this BaL and only caught it from about half way through. There seemed to be a lot of good and interesting performances, and I was glad to hear GM mention the old Böhm recording which was my first introduction to the work, and also praise the old Rolf Liebermann DVD production, part of a valuable set of operas that were filmed in the 1960s and 1970s. I couldn't argue with GM's final choice, but what happened to the VPO/Dohnanyi version which must have fallen at an early hurdle?