From: rtut@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Raymond Tuttle)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Bohm conducts Berg - "Wozzeck" and "Lulu" - a CD review
Date: 2 Jan 93 21:44:50 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

Much as I like new releases from the record companies, there is
something particularly heart-warming about the reissue of an old
friend whose acquaintance you made during the (seemingly) ancient
days of the vinyl LP.  That's how it was for me with Deutsche
Grammophon's reissue of Alban Berg's operas "Wozzeck" and "Lulu,"
first issued in the 60s, and now available again together on three
mid-priced CDs (435 705). 

Conductor Karl Bohm's approach to both of these works is very
romantic.  One could well forget that these operas are modern and that
they are supposed to be "difficult".  It isn't that Bohm sanitizes or
prettifies the music; it's just that he and his casts go deeper into the
music and the characters and come out with the ability to communicate
with and move the listener, rather than being satisfied with merely
shocking him. 

The singers clearly were chosen for their ability to humanize the
complex characters in these operas.  Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is an
uncommonly sensitive Wozzeck, playing him as something more than
just a violent, confused oaf.  Wozzeck may be mentally ill, and he may
not be brilliant, but he is something of a philosopher, and undoubtedly a
lover as well.  Why else would Marie have stayed with him for "three
years come Whitsun"?    And as Doctor Schon, Fischer-Dieskau
self-destructively falls into Lulu's trap with his eyes wide open. 
Surely both of these roles benefit from his beautiful voice and his
intelligent characterization. 

Evelyn Lear also sings in both operas, as Marie in "Wozzeck," and the
title-role in "Lulu".  Too many sopranos have screamed their way
through both of these roles.  In fact, I'm beginning to think that Marie
and Lulu may be turning into the two roles that dramatic sopranos 
avoid until their voices have turned to shreds from  singing one
"Salome" too many.  While Lear may not be a shining example of bel
canto, her voice is healthy and her acting is right on the money.  We
feel her run the gamut of love, frustration, lust,  guilt and fear as
Marie, and as Lulu, we can easily see her walking down the road of
degradation, dropping flakes and chunks of her innocence as she goes. 

The supporting casts are excellent too.  "Wozzeck" features Gerhard
Stolze going completely over the top as Wozzeck's neurotic Captain, and
Karl Christian Kohn's coldly calculating Doctor is a perfect foil for both
the Captain and Wozzeck.  Luxury casting is in effect, with Fritz
Wunderlich superb in the brief role of Wozzeck's friend Andres.  In
"Lulu," Josef Greindl almost steals the show as Lulu's "father"
Schigolch (this is a live recording), and Patricia Johnson (Countess
Geschwitz) and Donald Grobe (Alwa) are very ardent and sing well.  The
orchestra of the German Opera, Berlin, is strong in both recordings. 

There are two more points worth mentioning. Some will criticize these
recordings for containing too much singing and not enough
sprechstimme -- personally, I find this greatly preferable to the other
extreme.  If Berg notated an F sharp, I expect to hear it.  A more
important  consideration is that the version of "Lulu" given here ends
with Act II and Lulu's remark to Alwa that they are lying on the sofa on
which his father bled to death.  The orchestra then plays the Variations
and Adagio from the "Lulu" Suite, ending with a few vocal fragments
indicating Lulu and the Countess' murder at the hands of Jack the
Ripper. Cerha's reconstruction of Act III has been recorded, and should
be heard by those who admire "Lulu," but this performance is too good
to miss just because musicology had not advanced to the three act
version by 1968. 

Getting both operas on three discs has called for a compromise: the
first disc ends right after Marie's murder, a bone-headed place to break
the action, dramatically speaking (rather like having a side-break in
Act II of "Madama Butterfly" right after Butterfly sings "Ah! M'ha
scordata?" and before she shows Sharpless her child).  Also, the
libretto's table of contents promises synopses of the operas' plots, but
they are nowhere to be found, and this upsets the pagination for the
rest of the booklet.  There also are some discrepancies between the
sung and written texts:  does the Doctor become upset with Wozzeck
for "peeing" in the street (text) or merely for "spitting" (sung)?  Did
Bohm record a Bowdlerized Berg? 

"Wozzeck" was recorded in a studio in 1965, and as mentioned above,
"Lulu" was recorded live in 1968.  The  sound in "Wozzeck" is a little
bass-shy, but otherwise still is very good.  "Lulu" has been handled
extremely well; the movement of the characters around the stage has
been captured well, and this contributes to the dramatic effectiveness
of the recording.  There is little stage noise, and no applause, but we
can hear the audience reacting to the performance  in many subtle
ways. 

This is an essential recording of "Wozzeck," and, given a few caveats, a
highly desirable one of "Lulu".  If you have resisted Berg's music until
now, you owe it to yourself to give this set a listen. 








--
****************************************   Raymond S. Tuttle
"Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod,"       University of Rochester
but it's nothing to get depressed about!   (still with his two little 
****************************************   white mice).
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical