Berg: Wozzeck

Alban Berg (Composer), Leif Segerstam (Conductor), Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Carl Johan Falkman (Performer), Katarina Dalayman (Performer), Klas Hedlund (Performer), Lennart Stregard (Performer), Marianne Eklof (Performer), Ola Eliasson (Performer), Sten Wahlund (Performer), Ulrik Quale (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Carl Johan Falkman, Katarina Dalayman, Klas Hedlund, Lennart Stregard, Marianne Eklof, et al.
• Orchestra: Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra
• Conductor: Leif Segerstam
• Composer: Alban Berg
• Audio CD (April 23, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00005Y0MH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,140 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

You know of Wozzeck's reputation as a 20th-century masterpiece. But you're also aware of its complex, atonal musical language, so you're reluctant to invest heavily in a recording. Well, as it has so often before, Naxos comes to the rescue. At a super-budget price, this is a vivid account of Berg's haunting masterpiece--his setting of Georg Büchner's play Woyzeck, a tale of madness, jealousy, and murder. The recording collates three staged performances at the Kungliga Teatern in Stockholm. There's plenty of atmosphere but no loss of presence in the voices; indeed, the balance favors them. Leif Segerstam draws from the Royal Opera Orchestra a reading of commitment and clarity that relishes both the surreal and the ravishing: sample Katarina Dalayman's passionate singing in Act 1 Scene 3, for example. Her contribution as Marie is outstanding, as is Ulrik Qvale's Doctor. Playing Wozzeck, Carl Johan Falkman is hardly required to caress the ear. From the outset, he hurls himself into his manic persona with all the vocal imagination one could wish for. Nowhere do we gain the benefit of live performance more than in the horrifying climax, the closing moments nearly unbearable. --Andrew Green

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous performance of Berg's masterpiece!, July 13, 2002

By 

madamemusico "madamemusico" (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berg: Wozzeck (Audio CD)

This superb performance of Wozzeck, recorded during live performances in February 2000, finally gives us a modern digital recording of Berg's masterpiece on par with the famous Karl Böhm recording of the `60s. In that performance, we had such stellar names as Evelyn Lear (Marie), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Wozzeck), Fritz Wunderlich (Andres), Karl Christian Kohn (Doctor) and Gerhard Stolze (Captain); here we have a cast of singers virtually unknown outside Sweden, yet every one of them is superb. Soprano Katarina Dalayman, in fact, has a larger, brighter, more soaring voice than Lear, and Sten Wahlund (Doctor) reveals a luscious bass-baritone with a hint of the kind of darkness that Gottlob Frick possessed. (P.S.: Ignore the editorial review...Ulrik Qvale sings the Captain, Herr Hauptmann, not the Doctor.)

What pulls this performance together, however, is the superb conducting of Leif Segerstam. One of the greatest and most underrated composers of the 20th century, Segerstam's studio recordings of other composers' works have generally been disappointing (witness his Mahler and Sibelius symphony cycles), but in live performance he is generally superb, as he is here. (I can still recall hearing him conduct a "Boheme" at the Met with Pavarotti 28 years ago; it was light, lithe and magical in its effect.) Every nuance of Berg's difficult score is handled with consummate ease and, like Böhm, he makes the music flow naturally instead of sounding forced. I would give this recording six stars if it had a libretto: "Wozzeck" is one opera you really DO have to follow line-by-line in order to enjoy its full flavor.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A chilling performance, but let down by a poor recording, July 15, 2009

By 

G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Berg: Wozzeck (Audio CD)

This is an interesting alternative to the Abbado version, featuring many virtues but also certain shortcomings. The main drawback is the recording which - in addition to featuring some rather intrusive stage noise - is not very well balanced, giving far too much prominence to the vocalists and making the orchestral playing sound scrappier than it really is; somewhat distant and unnatural. And the various orchestral sections are not properly in balance among themselves either - the wind and in particular the brass are far to prominent, overshadowing the strings, which often end up sounding thin. And this is no mere quibble, since it tends to undermine crucial climaxes and musical build-ups.

But then, there are the virtues. Wozzeck is well characterized by Carl Johan Falkman, and the doctor and captain appear not as mad people, but as rather normal - which underlines the ominous darkness of the overall work even more than usual; and I have no complaints about the singing of Ulrik Qvale and Sten Wahlund either. The set even features a superb, moving portrayal of Marie by Katarina Dalayman - and there are, in fact, no truly weak links among the other roles. And Segerstam's approach is admirably understated as well; never melodramatic, but always with a chilling streak and smoldering fire.

Thus, this is overall really an excellent performance - although not a first-choice in that respect either; the understated, cold approach has more effect (I suspect) if you already know the work, for example from the excellent Abbado version. And its status as a strong second-version rather than a first option is bolstered by the poor recorded sound. Hence, I'll give it a firm recommendation, but only in light of the reservations mentioned above.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment!, March 27, 2007

By 

Kashaknishra "Kashaknishra" (Brighton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Berg: Wozzeck (Audio CD)

Although the roles of Marie and Wozzeck are sung well, the supporting roles are inaccurate in terms of pitch, unfortunately. If you can read the score and hear the difference, seek another performance, using the fine singing in the Fischer-Dieskau/Lear recording (mine is on LP) as a benchmark for musicality. Lear is quite amazing in the role of Marie, and many of you have probably heard Fischer-Dieskau's really good work in the excerpt used in music appreciation classes.