Hereinspaziert!
Was seht ihr in den Lust- und Trauerspielen?!
Haustiere, die so wohlgesittet fühlen,
An blasser Pflanzenkost ihr Mütchen kühlen
Und schwelgen in behaglichem Geplärr,
Wie jene andern - unten im Parterre...
La Cieca salutes the successful launch of Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
with a podcast of one of her very favorite operas of that era, Alban Berg's Lulu. It's a 1968 live performance from the Vienna State Opera, Karl Böhm am Pult. Anja Silja is the femme fatale, with Waldemar Kmentt, Ernst Gutstein, Hans Hotter, Manfred Jungwirth, Oskar Czerwenka, Heinz Zednik, Hilde Konetzni and Martha Mödl among the ensnared. Unnatural Acts of Opera.
Haustiere, die so wohlgesittet fühlen,
An blasser Pflanzenkost ihr Mütchen kühlen
Und schwelgen in behaglichem Geplärr,
Wie jene andern - unten im Parterre...
La Cieca salutes the successful launch of Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
with a podcast of one of her very favorite operas of that era, Alban Berg's Lulu. It's a 1968 live performance from the Vienna State Opera, Karl Böhm am Pult. Anja Silja is the femme fatale, with Waldemar Kmentt, Ernst Gutstein, Hans Hotter, Manfred Jungwirth, Oskar Czerwenka, Heinz Zednik, Hilde Konetzni and Martha Mödl among the ensnared. Unnatural Acts of Opera.
POSTED at
1:07 PM
16 Comments:
Thank you! My absolute favorite opera ever. Such a gorgeous and gripping work, both musically and dramatically. Nice to know that I'm not alone in my admiration for Berg's masterpiece (Wozzeck ain't half bad either, of course). People who shriek in holy terror at the very mention of "Alban Berg" or "the New Vienna School" etc., etc. are such fools. Any hints about who will be singing Lulu, Schigolch, the Countess, etc., etc. at the Met when the opera's revived in a couple of seasons or so?
Thank you so much for posting some "New"(er) music! You're a woman of impeccable taste.
La Cieca: Holy crap! Thanks!
Any hints about who will be singing Lulu...?
Christine Schäfer, I'd hope.
Thanks La Cieca! This is my first and favorite opera. I have been wanting to hear this performance for awhile. It is riveting.
This is a terrific recording, and I must admit to having a hard time finding a way into this particular opera.
@anonymous: I think the Met Futures page is listing Marlis Petersen, who debuted as Adele in Fledermaus about two years ago. I know I read somewhere she was singing it, anyway.
My dream cast for Lulu in two yeard would probably be, oh... Christine Schafer for Lulu, Alan Held for Dr. Schonn, Maybe Susan Graham or Patricia Bardon even for Gerschwitz, and definetly Matthew Polenzani for Alwa. For Schligosh, I think we need to get James Morris in there.
baritenor: For Lulu, I cannot think of more ideal casting than Diana Damrau -- although at this point she has not added the role to her repertoire. (Surely she must eventually.)
I believe Dessay mentioned a few years ago that she wanted to learn Lulu, though again I don't think she's prepared it yet.
One can hardly imagine Dessay's outfit for "Lulu." There would certainly be leather and chains involved...
Dessay or Damrau? Any other? Both would be wonderful.
I love this opera.
It's not for the general public. Not a hot ticket.
Only saw it in an old VHS tape. Julia Mighenes Johnson (hope I did spelled right). Instead of the programmed Teresa Stratas. And Brigitte Fassbaender.
HOT!!
A treat!!
Wish I could see it again soon
The best Lulu performances at the Met (of the completed score) were Julia Migenes (as I believe she is now) and then on another occasion Jeffry Tate, a hunchback who conducted an unforgettable silvery, volatile and melodically inflected performance (he got one, Jimmy got all the others -- lots of goose fat). Julia wasn't effortless to hear but was an amazing impersonation, and there is or was a BMG live performance als Wien with her, Theo Adam (wonderful) and Maazel.
The Schaefer DVD is thrilling with her remarkable, good cast and Davis cond a wonderful Vick production. Davis is not as memorable as Tate (nor is Maazel) but they are both very good.
The great Lulu pirate DVD is from Vienna, with Evelyn Lear unbelievable as Lulu, gorgeous, multi-colored as an interpreter (the way she does 'nun geduld, Kinder -- or 'later, bitches', as it would now be translated is worth it all by itself), good pitch resolution even at the very top, Schoeffler (fantastic), Schock (als Alwa, fantastic) and Herr Doktor Bohm who is meaty but OK. That's just the two act version.
Damrau would be amazing, Dessay might have waited too long, for as Lear, Migines and Schaeffer show, the part can be a wonderful sing, and not just a hurdle.
The greatest I saw was of the two act with Hamburg visiting NY -- the very greatest Annaliese Rothenberger was phenomenal as Lulu, and the rest of the cast was just immense -- with ME, Kirsten Meyer, as the Countess. They did a big chunk of the Wedekind play, and for years I would do Kirsten as the Countess sobbing, "verfluchtes Leben! Verfluchtes Leben!! Was ist mehr Kalt, Eis Kalt Wasser oder ihre Herz!!! Verfluchtes Leben!!" It was just electrifying. Of course in those days everybody made a lot of mistakes, the cond was Leopold Ludwig (I own the LP made from this production and Annaliese is still very special).
BTW the Hamburg company produced a TV movie of Wozzeck, which is on DVD -- Arthaus Musik. This is the greatest conducting I have ever heard in a Wozzeck -- the great Bruno Maderna, Wop who loved the Germans and was an avant-garde composer. But the score is so transparent, the playing so brilliantly inflected, the melodic lines so deftly sketched it's just incredible. And what a cast -- Sotin as the Docter, when he had a great voice -- he and Maderna just run up and down the tone row and have a riotous good time in that scene (the only twelve note scene)-- Moll as the first apprentice -- trill and everything else as well as gorgeous tone, unreal. And then there is the greatest Jurinac, ein bissel Wienerin maybe in this North German context but very special. And all the others are fantastic -- it's also a very stark but effective visual presentation. I adore Metropolous with the greatest Eileen (not at her most accurate), and some wild readings from the other singers (marvelous Mack Harrel excepted) but the Maderna is major.
In a thread on Netrebko being offered the role in Vienna, a poster on a French site claims to be quoting Dessay word-for-word on the subject: "Attendez, j'aurais mis 3 ans pour apprendre ce rôle, je pense que le jeu n'en vaut pas la chandelle."
I.e. (roughly) "Hold on, it would have taken me three years to learn this role, I don't think it's worth the trouble."
Mrs. JCS: One of the great Evelyn Lear stories is how, in 1962, she blithely promised to learn the score of Lulu with less than a month lead time before the performance.
La Cieca has unearthed a few minutes of documentary footage of Ms. Lear taken on the afternoon after her very first rehearsal of Lulu.
[YouTube]
La Cieca,
Re: Evelyn Lear's panic attack
You are most wicked.
La Cieca, perfect! Thank you. And you know, West Side Story is shown playing on the marquee -- and it was the fact that she lost Maria to Carol Lawrence that sent Evie and Tom to Europe to specialize in opera! However, I will have to find the copyright owner of that movie, for that mirrors exactly my breakdown when I lived in Century City (don't ask) and used to go to Hollywood to the movies (don't ask!)
Wonderful youtube clip thank you so much dear Cieca.
And probably the best review of Lulu performances I have ever read, thank you Mrs Claggart.
BUT "I will have to find the copyright owner of that movie, for that mirrors exactly my breakdown when I lived in Century City (don't ask) and used to go to Hollywood to the movies (don't ask!)"
So I'm asking....
Polly Bergen got a Golden Globe nomination for The Caretakers.
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