Andante's new mastering
of famous live performances aims to
capture what those performances might
have felt like. This gives these recordings
an automatic cachet of authenticity
and a kind of cult status. However,
much depends on the quality of the particular
performance. The skill is to choose
quality performances that really are
interesting in themselves, and to remaster
them in ways that do them justice. The
Andante series comes impressively packaged,
with luxuriously bound booklets, beautifully
presented. However, in this case the
music does not quite match the promise.
Worthy as this performance is, and worthy
it is indeed, it is not an ideal first
choice. Artistically it is good, but
best appreciated by those who know Abbado,
Boulez, Dohnanyi and even Böhm's
later recording. While I'm one who listens
for music, not for sound quality, in
this case the sound quality is poor
enough to distract – not enough to ruin
listening, for it would take a lot to
deter a genuine listener – but just
enough to feel that you're listening
through an artificial medium. This may
have been recorded live, but it doesn't
"feel" live, with the pops,
crackles and occluded passages. Ultimately
that defeats its own purpose.
Nonetheless, for a
Wozzeck devotee, it's unmissable because
it gives an insight into Karl Böhm's
conception of the opera. Böhm conducted
the opera in 1931 in Darmstadt, when
it was fairly unfamiliar and deemed
difficult. Berg himself attended and
approved of Berg's treatment. Böhm
was to champion the opera, performing
it several times after the war, in 1951
in Salzburg and in other countries.
This performance therefore may give
a closer idea of what the conductor
thought than his later, better known,
recording in Berlin. A comparison with
the Mitropoulos recording, made in the
US in 1951 is also apt. The two are
almost contemporary, but what different
emotional worlds they inhabit. Mitropoulos
manages to coax a suitably confused
characterisation from his Wozzeck, Mack
Harrell, but the overall impression
is that the cast and orchestra were
somewhat ill at ease with the strange,
subversive message of the opera, hence
the muddy, messy performance. No such
problems with the Vienna State Opera,
performing this explosive opera barely
ten years after the defeat of Nazism
left Europe in ruins. The concept of
a world run by insane authority figures
would have been only too relevant.
This isn't a pretty
production. Böhm conducts with
an intensity one recognises from his
Wagner. It as though he connects the
conjunction of love and death in the
Liebestod with what happens to Wozzeck
and Marie. Marie may not be an enthusiastic
victim like Isolde, but there is a self-destructive
streak in Christel Göltz's portrayal
of Marie: she gives in to the Drum Major
with a laconic "Meinetwegen, es
ist Alles eins.". However, Böhm
leads the orchestra towards a wild crescendo
of screaming trumpets, which ends abruptly,
with a shock.
Indeed, it is the orchestra
that makes most impact in this production.
The passages between scenes, which Berg
called, suitably, "Inventions",
more than simply mark the raising and
lowering of curtain on stage: they are
an integral part of the production.
Böhm gets the orchestra to comment
on the action by evoking the harsher,
discordant elements. The orchestra adds
a sense of rawness and unease, which
must have been particularly unsettling,
since the costumes (as shown in the
photographs) were somewhat comical,
stock figures. This approach "makes"
the opera. The Schnellpolka in the village
inn, for example, is maniacal, as if
all were disintegrating into madness.
When Wozzeck falls into the pond, the
orchestra rises eerily upwards: you
can almost hear the stage directions
indicating a red glow of light. The
trumpets and horns here are particularly
expressive, slightly bent and off-key.
The children's chorus is loud and vivid,
somewhat too cheerful perhaps but that
increases the surrealism of the scene.
Walter Berry is an
excellent Wozzeck, young and fresh-sounding,
very convincing in an unflattering,
anti-hero role. I was less impressed
with Peter Klein as the Captain and
Karl Dönch as Doctor. Both are
well sung, but lacking that extra edge
of barely concealed hysteria we are
so used to these days. The minor role
of Margret, sung by Polly Batic, is
surprisingly well done.
In all, this is an
important addition to the Wozzeck discography,
but one for study rather than for its
own sake. There are clearer and more
acute performances, though many might
prefer Böhm's harsher, starker
interpretation here to his later version.
The booklet looks like great packaging
for marketing impact, but is cumbersome
to use and the use of large font quotes
is distracting. I found myself referring
to simpler, more precise librettos.
Anne Ozorio
Also of Interest?
BERG Lulu
(live from the Vienna State Opera
Festival, 16 December 1968): Anja Silja
(Lulu), Gerd Nienstedt (Der Tierbandiger),
Ernst Gutstein (Dr Schon), Waldemar
Kmentt (Alwa Schön), William Blankenship
(Der Maler), Hans Brand (Der Medizinalrat),
Hans Hotter (Schigolch), Manfred Jungwirth
(Der Theaterdirektor), Hilde Konetzni
(Garderobiere), Mario Guggia (Der Prinz),
Martha Mödl (Grafin Geschwitz),
Oskar Czerwenka (Rodrigo, Athlet), Rohangiz
Yachmi (Der Gymnasiast), Heinz Zednik
(Ein Kammerdiener), Orchestra and Chorus
of the Vienna State Opera/Karl Bohm
(conductor) ANDANTE AN3050 (2-CD) (mono)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Vienna State Opera/Karl
Böhm 
