ALBAN BERG Lulu
orchestration of Act 3 completed by FRIEDRICH CERHA
Teresa Stratas (sop/ Lulu)
Franz Mazura (bar/ Dr Schön/ Jack)
Yvonne Minton (mez/ Countess Geschwitz)
Kenneth Riegel (ten/ Alwa)
Gerd Nienstedt (bass/ An Animal-tamer/ Rodrigo)
Toni Blankenheim (bar/ Schigolch/ Professor of Medicine / The Police
Officer)
Robert Tear (ten/ The Painter/ A Negro)
Helmut Pampuch (ten/ The Prince/ The Manservant / The Marquis)
Jules Bastin (bass/ The Theatre Manager/ The Banker)
Ursula Boese (mez/ Her Mother)
Claude Meloni (bar/ A Journalist); Pierre-Yves Le Maigat (bass/ A
Manservant)
Hanna Schwarz (mez/ A Dresser in the theatre, High School Boy / A Groom)
Jane Manning (sop/ A fifteen-year-old girl)
Anna Ringart (mez/ A Lady Artist)
Paris Opéra Orchestra/Pierre Boulez.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 463
617-2 DG Originals series
(Previously issued on LP DG 2740213 and CD DG 415 489-2GH3) 3CDs
[172.00]
Crotchet
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For many years Lulu was known in a two act version. Friedrich Cerha
(remember the Cerha Ensemble from those Candide and Turnabout LPs) had obtained
the third act materials from the publisher during the early '70s and had
secretly been working towards a 'completion'. When it was finished and it
became known that a 3 act version of Lulu was to be performed in 1979 (Paris
Opera) the Alban Berg Foundation began litigation to stop it. Eventually
a compromise was agreed under which the publishers kept the two act version
available for performance and the Foundation withdrew its litigation against
the publisher.
DG took a courageous decision to record the opera complete using (so I believe)
largely identical forces to those used at the Paris Opéra. Boulez
directed the recording at IRCAM and the end result was issued by DG at top
speed later in 1979. I have not heard the competing versions but they include
Böhm and Von Dohnanyi in the 2 act version and Andrew Davis (on a video),
Jeffrey Tate and Ulf Schirmer in the complete version.
Lulu is a three act opera. The musical idiom is a combination of atonality,
lyricism and Mahlerian romance. The atonality is always present. The singing
line is often disconnected from the line of orchestra. The plot is founded
on two tragedies by Frank Wedekind: 'Earth Spirit' and 'Pandora's Box'. The
storyline is heavy with incident and dialogue. The plot charts the fatal
flight of the anti-heroine: her fall and the fall of those around her. This
is very much a case of six deaths in three acts. Only the devoted Lesbian
lover, Countess Geschwitz, is at all appealing. Lulu (and finally Geschwitz)
meets her degrading death at the hands of Jack the Ripper in the East End
of London. This is an opera for grown-ups and particularly for those who
are ready for unhappy endings - well, there are plenty of those in opera
anyway!
DG's original LP production was typically de luxe as was the first reissue
during the early 1990s. This issue in the DG Originals series attains the
same standards. The full text is given (that's a lot of words!) in German
with English translation side by side. There are lucidly readable essays
by Michael Oliver and Freidrich Cerha plus a plot outline from the publishers.
The translation of the Cerha reads idiomatically - not to be taken for granted
as we know! The double thickness box and the booklet are packaged in a card
slip-case. DG make good use of this format to make the booklet readable.
It would have had to be a much less impressive job if it had had to be encased
inside the disc coffer.
The recording and performance is of the very highest standards. Bear in mind
that the analogue sound is now more than twenty years old. DG however have
always had the highest standards of audio realism. They pay off well in this
case and have given the recording a very long shelf-life. All the singers
are clear in diction and seem secure in what they have to sing. Stratas herself
has not a trace of operatic vibrato. There is poignancy as well as desperation
in her acting of the part. Minton catches the tragic spirit of abandonment
and hope-forlorn aspiration in Geschwitz's role. Mazura is also excellent
but frankly so are they all. The DG recording quite noticeably places voices
and instruments in a span in front of you. Other recordings may well seem
quite two-dimensional by comparison.
This is clearly a version to cherish. Its spell is both historic and musically
enduring. As for the music this appears to represent one of the pinnacles
of the Second Viennese School's approach to bel canto - a monument to the
marriage of two musical languages. Given the subject matter the surreal nightmare
atmosphere is in keeping with the rocking cradle of this richly dissonant
yet singable score.
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
Compare three act versions:-
Christine Schäfer; LPO/Davis NVC Arts 6 & 0630-15533-3 (182
minutes: PAL VIDEO). Rec at performances at Glyndebourne during July
1996.
Constance Hauman; Danish National R SO/Ulf Schirmer. Chandos CHAN9540
(three discs: 171 minutes: DDD). Rec at performances in the Royal Riding
School, Christiansborg Castle, Copenhagen Aug Sept 1996.
Patricia Wise; French National Orchestra / Jeffrey Tate. EMI CDS7
54622-2 (three discs: 172 minutes: DDD). Rec at performances in the
Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris on 27, 30 Sept 4 Oct
1991.
Two Act version
Evelyn Lear Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin / Karl Böhm.
DG 435 705-2GX3 (three discs: 216 minutes: ADD). rec at performances in the
Deutsche Oper, Berlin during Feb 1968.
