SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Berg, Wozzeck: Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, 4.12.2010 (revival premiere)(GF)

Directed by Götz Friedrich

Sets and Costumes by Andreas Reinhardt

Lighting by Torkel Blomkvist

Cast:

Wozzeck – Gabriel Suovanen

Marie – Sara Olsson

Captain – Graham Clark

Doctor – John Erik Eleby

Drum-Major – Magnus Kyhle

Andres – Jonas Degerfeldt

Margret – Katarina Leoson

First Apprentice – Lennart Forsén

Second Apprentice – Jesper Taube

Madman – Pierre Gylbert

A Soldier – Christian Wegmann

Marie’s son – Alex McGinley-Mogren / Noah Hofvander

Children from Adolf Fredrik’s Music Classes, The Royal Swedish Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Andreas Stoehr

Production Picture Courtesy of Royal Swedish Opera

Alban Berg’s Wozzeck has been seen in three productions at the Royal Opera. In April 1957 the work had its Scandinavian premiere, directed by Göran Gentele, with sets and costumes by Sven X-et Erixon and conducted by Sixten Ehrling. Erik Saedén was Wozzeck and Kjerstin Dellert was Marie. Ms. Dellert was present at this evening’s revival premiere. In 1984, there was a second production, directed by Hans Alfredson and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, with Curt Appelgren in the title role and Laila Andersson as a sensational Marie. The present production, which was Götz Friedrich’s last production in Stockholm, was premiered on 12 February 2000, conducted by Leif Segerstam with Loa Falkman and Katarina Dalayman in the leading roles. I saw the Alfredson production but missed the first round of the present one, though I have the Naxos recording of it.

It is a taut drama, implacably driven forward in a continuous surge of emotions, the fifteen scenes often overlapping or almost imperceptibly sliding into each other. There are no intervals, only brief pauses between acts. The sets are simple: two movable walls, some non-figurative metal constructions and centre-stage an area that in the penultimate scene serves as the pond where Wozzeck drowns. In the beer-garden scene there are tables and benches; apart from this, imaginative lighting creates atmosphere. Few operas from any period are as immediately captivating as Wozzeck, and even though Berg’s music in its uncompromising modernism – after almost 90 years it still sounds more or less avant-garde – may be a hard nut to crack for listeners unused to the idiom, I believe it is easy to be swept along by the emotional content. Götz Friedrich’s direction manages to lay bare the cruelty of mankind – the abstract sets lend a sense of timelessness to the performance, which reflects not only days gone by but just as much the world of today - and Wozzeck’s predicament as an odd person, obedient, seemingly simple-minded but with deep feelings. A young boy sitting next to me was totally absorbed by the drama and hardly moved a finger during the 100 minutes the performance lasted.

More so than most other operas, Wozzeck touches and breathes through the orchestra, and in Andreas Stoehr the Royal Opera have found a surefooted interpreter of Berg’s kaleidoscopic score, powerful and sensitive. On stage, the whole cast was deeply involved, all except Katarina Leoson singing their roles for the first time, with Gabriel Suovanen making possibly his best creation to date as the tortured Wozzeck. He is a charismatic actor and his flexible voice allows him to express all of the character’s varying moods. Sara Olsson is a sensitive Marie, but she cannot erase memories of Laila Andersson’s fabulous reading of the role more than 25 years ago. Graham Clark is without doubt one of the foremost character tenors in the world of opera, famous not least for his Mime and Loge, and he makes a hilarious Captain, repulsive in his complacency, while John Erik Eleby’s Doctor is just as appalling in his more understated way. Magnus Kyhle’s Drum-Major is a conceited ass sporting a large red beard.

In spite of all the human degradation, Wozzeck is deeply engaging and it is to be hoped that this revival of the Friedrich production will fill the house at Gustav Adolf Square. At the premiere there were quite a number of empty seats in the dress circle.

Göran Forsling