Wozzeck

Wozzeck for a while was an opera I more appreciated than loved, mainly because I am not the biggest fan of expressionist music while acknowledging its importance. Overtime though the style has grown on me, and because of the complex and tense score and the compelling story Wozzeck is one of the best operas of the 20th century, at least to me. This Wozzeck, like the 1987, 1994 and 2001 performances after it, is outstanding. It is very naturalistic and atmospheric in how it looks, and is excellently filmed, the interlude and the final scene being especially well done. The performance is incredibly gripping musically too, with the orchestra performing the score with just the right amount of intensity, and Bruno Maderna's conducting is suitably commanding. Toni Blankenheim's(a splendid Beckmesser for Hamburg) Wozzeck is superb, really feeling the character's puzzling, despair and suffering and singing with subtlety and pleasing tone. Sena Jurinac, my favourite Octavian(Der Rosenkavalier) of all time, is a very poignant Marie both as mother and a woman in need, showing a firm voice and a beautiful figure. After hearing his Walther and Florestan, both for Hamburg, I have re-assessed my somewhat indifferent opinion of Richard Cassily, his tone is fuller than in the Met production of Tannhauser, and his acting as the Drum-Major is done with the appropriate swagger. Hans Sotin is simply terrific as the Doctor, his voice has the sonority that makes me love him in the first place and he is often deliciously sardonic as well as sinister. Gerhard Unger, a fine David(Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg), is a suitably in-your-face Captain. The sound is overall clear, and the lip-synch is some of the best I've seen for a filmed opera. All in all, a brilliant performance. 10/10 Bethany Cox