Saturday 10 October 2009

Alban Berg: WOZZECK, Royal Festival Hall, 8 Oct 2009



 Semi-staged performance of WOZZECK, Royal Festival Hall, 8 October 2009

Cast

WOZZECK....................................Simon Keenlyside
MARIE............................................Katarina Dalayman
DRUM MAJOR..............................Anthony Dean Griffey
ANDRES....................................... Robert Murray
CAPTAIN.......................................Peter Hoare
DOCTOR.......................................Matthew Best
MARGRET.....................................Anna Burford
FIRST APPRENTICE...................David Soar
SECOND APPRENTICE.............Leigh Melrose
IDIOT...............................................Ben Johnson


Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Voices

CONDUCTOR...............................Esa-Pekka Salonen




This was the culmination of the VIENNA, CITY OF DREAMS project by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. I had previously attended a concert at which they performed Berg's Violin Concerto - soloist Chrstian Tetzlaff - and Mahler's 6th. Symphony.

WOZZECK is a harrowing work, ending bleakly without any hint of hope....nevertheless, one of the greatest of 20th century operas. (Just as an aside...the work of Berg's that I love best is the Violin Concerto, with its haunting, melancholgy strangeness).
Simon Keenlyside's performance as Wozzeck was appropriately harrowing, really getting under the skin of this hapless victim - of circumstances, of society, of poverty - and his descent into madness was truly frightening and absolutely gripping.


For this semi-staged performance, some costumes were worn - mainly soldiers' uniforms, as in the image here, and it did start with Wozzeck shaving the Captain (Peter Hoare). (I couldn't find a graphic of this).
I liked Matthew Best's performance as the Doctor, a witty parody - Best's rather dry voice was ideal for this part.


One of the scenes which I found most striking is the scene in which the Doctor and the Captain, having spent several minutes 'discussing' various medical symptoms and differing methods of treating them, turn on Wozzeck as he enters and join in baiting him about Marie's infidelity, in terms that he at first affects not to understand but which are a further step on his road to desperation and madness.

Hat Er nicht ein Haar aus einem Bart in seiner Schuessel gefunden?

Haha! Er versteht mich doch? Ein Haar von einem Menschen,
vom Bart eines Sappeurs, oder eines Unteroffiziers,
 oder eines Tambourmajors.
(Didn't you find a hair from a beard in your soup? Haha! Of course you understand me! A person's hair....from a sapper's beard...or an NCO....or a Drum Major).

Was der Kerl fuer ein Gesicht macht! Nun!

Wenn auch nicht grad in der Suppe,
aber wenn Er sich eilt
und um die Ecke laeuft, so kann Er vielleicht noch
auf einem Paar Lippen eins finden! Ein Haar naemlich!
(what a face the chap's making! Well...perhaps not exactly in your soup, but if you get a move on and run round the corner, you can probably find one on a pair of lips! A hair, I mean!)

The Drum Major was sung by Anthony Dean Griffey, with just the right combination of arrogance and 'macho-ness', erupting into the sad, poverty-stricken world of Marie, who succumbs to him without too much difficulty, as he represents at least a temporary escape from her miserable existence. Katarina Dalayman's soprano was more than equal to the demands of the role. (The graphic is just a photograph of Dalayman).


The orchestral playing under Salonen was very subtle and nuanced, I would single out for special mention the luminous clarity of the strings. I love the way Berg parodies the Viennese Waltz in the music for the Drum Major and the 'garden of the inn' scene, during which two apprentices sing a drunken chorus while Marie dances with the drum major. The instruments Berg uses for this scene are, according to the programme notes, the characteristic instrumental ensemble of Viennese tavern music - (violin, clarinet, guitar, accordion).


Finally, a few words about the live video background, created especially for this performance by Jean-Baptise Barriere. It was obviously an attempt to reproduce the colours and shapes of Expressionist paintings, especially those of Kandinsky, and probably especially this one.





The faces of the singers were then seen out-of-focus behind the images.
I appreciated the idea - I think! - but after a while it just ended up looking like a wallpaper advertisement, not really adding to the effect of the semi-staged performance, which was in fact very effective on its own.

No comments:

Post a Comment