BaL 17.01.15 - Berg: Wozzeck

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 a.m.
Building a Library
Gillian Moore compares recordings of Berg's opera Wozzeck and makes a personal recommendation. The opera with its many short scenes, uses a language that is abrupt and sometimes brutal with a stark and haunting realism.

Available recordings:


Franz Grundheber (Wozzeck), Hildegard Behrens (Marie), Walter Raffeiner (Tambourmajor), Philip Langridge (Andres), Heinz Zednik (Hauptmann), Aage Haugland (Doktor), Anna Gonda (Margret), Peter Jelosits (Narr), Alfred Sramek (1.Handwerkbursch), Alexander Maly (2.Handwerkbursch)
Vienna Boys Choir, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado (download)

Franz Grundheber (Wozzeck), Waltraud Meier (Marie), Graham Clark (Hauptmann), Günter von Kannen (Doktor), Mark Baker (Tambourmajor), Endrik Wottrich (Andres), Siegfried Vogel (1er Handwerkbursche), Roman Trekel (2er Handwerkbursche), Peter Menzel (Narr), Dalia Schaechter (Margret)
Staatskapelle Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden & Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin, Daniel Barenboim (DVD)

Geraint Evans (Wozzeck), Anja Silja (Marie), Fritz Uhl (Drum Major)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsoper, Karl Böhm

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Evelyn Lear, Helmut Melchert, Fritz Wunderlich, Gerhard Stolze, Karl Christian Kohn
Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Karl Böhm (download)

Hermann Uhde (Wozzeck), Kurt Baum (Tambourmajor), Charles Anthony (Andres), Paul Franke (Hauptmann), Karl Dönch (Doktor), Alessio de Paolis (De Narr), Eleanor Steber (Marie), Margaret Roggero (Margret), Alice Plotkin (Mariens Knabe), Earl Ringland (Ein Soldat) & Charles Kuestner (Townsman)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera House, Karl Böhm

Walter Berry (Wozzeck), Isabel Strauss (Marie), Fritz Uhl (Tambourmajor), Carl Doench (Doktor), Albert Weikenmeier (Hauptmann), Richard van Vrooman (Andres), Ingeborg Lasser (Margret), Gérard Dunan (Narr)
Orchestre & Choeur de l'Opéra de Paris, Pierre Boulez

Dale Duesing, Kristine Ciesinski, Ronald Hamilton, Dieter Bundschuh & Barry Banks
Choir and Children’s Choir of the Frankfurt Opera & Frankfurter Museumsorchester, Sylvain Cambreling (DVD)

Georg Nigl (Wozzeck), Mardi Byers (Marie), Maxim Paster (Captain), Pyotr Migunov (Doctor) & Roman Muravitsky (Drum-major)
Orchestra & Chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre, Teodor Currentzis (DVD)

Andrew Shore (Wozzeck), Dame Josephine Barstow (Marie), Alan Woodrow (Drum Major), Peter Bronder (Andres), Stuart Kale (Hauptmann), Clive Bayley (Doktor), Leslie John Flanagan (1.Handwerkbursch), Iain Paterson (2.Handwerkbursch), John Graham-Hall (Narr), Jean Rigby (Margaret)
Susan Singh Choristers, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, Paul Daniel

Eberhard Wächter (Wozzeck), Anja Silja (Marie), Hermann Winkler (Tambourmajor), Horst R Laubenthal (Andres), Heinz Zednik (Hauptmann), Alexander Malta (Doktor), Gertrude Jahn (Margret), Alfred Sramek (1.Handwerkbursch), Franz Wächter (2.Handwerkbursch), Walter Wendig (Narr)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Christoph von Dohnanyi

Theo Adam, Reiner Goldberg, Helmuth Klotz, Horst Hiestermann, Konrad Rupf, Gisela Schroter, Gisela Pohl
Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Leipzig, Herbert Kegel

Jess Walters (Wozzeck), Maria Wolkovsky (Marie), Frederick Dalberg (Doktor), Monica Sinclair (Margret), Michael Langdon (1.Handwerkbursch), Edgar Evans (Andres), Thorstein Hanneson (Tambourmajor), Parry Jones (Hauptmann), Ronald Lewis (2.Handwerkbursch), David Tree (Narr)
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden, Royal Opera House Chorus, Covent Garden, Erich Kleiber (download)

Bo Skovhus (Wozzeck), Angela Denoke (Marie), Jan Blinkhof (Tambourmajor), Chris Merritt (Hauptmann), Jürgen Sacher (Andres), Renate Spingler (Margret), Frode Olsen (Doktor)
Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Ingo Metzmacher

Katarina Dalayman, Marianne Eklof, Carl Johan Falkman and more
Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra, Stockholm Royal Opera Chorus, Leif Segerstam

Franz Hawlata (Wozzeck), Angela Denoke (Marie), Reiner Goldberg (Drum Major), Vivian Tierney (Marget), Johann Tilli (Doctor), Hubert Delamboye (Captain), David Kuebler (Andres)
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu & Vivaldi Chorus – IPSI – Petits Cantors de Catalunya, Sebastian Weigle (DVD)

[silvestrione]

Thanks for all your work on this one: a lot of meticulous typing needed there!

I hardly know the work, and shall listen to learn.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thanks for all your work on this one: a lot of meticulous typing needed there!

On this occasion, it was all cut and paste. (Thank you, Presto)

[verismissimo]

Perhaps I should no longer be surprised, but I'm astonished how many recordings there are out there now of this great 20th century opera.

I've only ever had Boulez with Walter Berry from 1966.

[aeolium]

Thanks as ever for the listing, EA. I'm looking forward to this one.

Hazarding an each-way bet on the VPO/Dohnanyi recording with Eberhard Wächter and Anja Silja - I think it's wonderful.

[Roehre]

Perhaps I should no longer be surprised, but I'm astonished how many recordings there are out there now of this great 20th century opera.

I've only ever had Boulez with Walter Berry from 1966.

Which is the one through which I learned the work. Like it much.
Likely not surviving the "first round" due to the dated recording.
Should I make a choice now it would be either Von Dohnanyi or Abbado (with Böhm Evans/Silja running up)

[LeMartinPecheur]

I hope the Segerstam/ Naxos one doesn't get pushed out too quickly, so I don't feel obliged to get another one! (On grounds of lack of shelfspace, not disrespect to the work.)

[CallMePaul]

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?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Elise Ross was the superb Marie in a Scottish Opera production conducted by Alexander Gibson in 1980. The best Marie I've ever heard - the right age, good acting and singing the role rather than squawrking it as is the wont of so many sopranos. Terribly sad it was never recorded.

I cannot find any record of a revival of that production under Rattle on the Scottish Opera's own archive that I can see -

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1980-1989

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1990-1999

[subcontrabass]

Elise Ross was the superb Marie in a Scottish Opera production conducted by Alexander Gibson in 1980. The best Marie I've ever heard - the right age, good acting and singing the role rather than squawrking it as is the wont of so many sopranos. Terribly sad it was never recorded.

I cannot find any record of a revival of that production under Rattle on the Scottish Opera's own archive that I can see -

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1980-1989

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1990-1999

Appears to be 1983: http://www.operascotland.org/tour/2094/Wozzeck-1983

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I cannot find any record of a revival of that production under Rattle on the Scottish Opera's own archive that I can see -

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1980-1989

https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/1990-1999

Aha! Revivals mustn't be included - 1983, Paul:

http://www.operascotland.org/tour/2094/Wozzeck-1983

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

SNAP!

[slarty]

There is a Carlos Kleiber performance available from CRQ as an mp3 CDR.

Berg: Wozzeck

Wozzeck: Theo Adam
Marie: Wendy Fine
Drum Major: Fritz Uhl
Andres: George Paskuda
Captain: Friedrich Lenz
Doctor: Max Pröbstl
Margret: Gudrun Wewezow
Fool: Fritz Hoppe

Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera, Munich

Conductor: Carlos Kleiber

National Theatre, Munich

27 November 1970

[gurnemanz]

I went to town on this opera as a student umpteen years ago when we were studying the original Büchner play, Woyzeck. I had no money for opera sets and borrowed the LPs from the library, ripping it off onto a reel-to-reel recorder for future use. I can't actually remember which one it was - probably Böhm/Fischer-Dieskau. I really got into the very tight structure of the whole thing, copying bits out long hand from library books and obtaining a libretto from somewhere. That Kegel/Theo Adam version from Leipzig is a live concert performance from 1973 which we actually attended - a riveting evening with Gisela Schröter as an excellent Marie (she did a hair-raising Kundry for Kegel, which we also saw). The next time I saw this work was only a few years ago at ROH - a brilliant show where Matthias Goerne ends up in a water tank at the end.

Apart from the very good Kegel I have the Naxos set and Dohnányi.

[verismissimo]

I went to town on this opera as a student umpteen years ago when we were studying the original Büchner play, Woyzeck. I had no money for opera sets and borrowed the LPs from the library, ripping it off onto a reel-to-reel recorder for future use. I can't actually remember which one it was - probably Böhm/Fischer-Dieskau. I really got into the very tight structure of the whole thing, copying bits out long hand from library books and obtaining a libretto from somewhere. That Kegel/Theo Adam version from Leipzig is a live concert performance from 1973 which we actually attended - a riveting evening with Gisela Schröter as an excellent Marie (she did a hair-raising Kundry for Kegel, which we also saw). The next time I saw this work was only a few years ago at ROH - a brilliant show where Matthias Goerne ends up in a water tank at the end.

Apart from the very good Kegel I have the Naxos set and Dohnányi.

Fascinating stuff, gurnemanz. Leipzig in 1973... Wow! Love to learn more.