Berg: Lulu [Blu-ray]

Alban Berg (1885-1935) came from a cultivated, well to do bourgeois Viennese family where reading and plays were part of normal life. Both his operas Wozzeck and Lulu were taken from successful stage plays which he adapted for his operas. Berg was clearly under the influence of Schoenberg from their first meeting in 1905 until his death 30 years later. Bergs style is more lyrical then Webern and Schoenberg. But he owes more to Mahler, then to the tortured intellectualism of Schoenberg.While at work on Lulu,he began to suffer from poor health. After the Nazi's came to power his work was declared decadent and was banned from performance in Germany and increasingly so in Austria. He gradually lost the incentive to finish the work.In 1935 he died of blood poisoning. In 1934 he scored the opera from the start and had reached bar 268 of Act 3 before he died.Helene his widow,in vain asked Schoenberg and Webern to finish and edit the full score.Only after Helenes death in 1976,could the Act 3 be completed. In 1979 Cerha's version was heard conducted by Boulez.Lulu in the opera, may come across as a femme fatale, wrecking havoc in the lives of her three husbands and various male and female admirers, but is too childlike. Dr Schon finds her as a 12 year old selling flowers, educated her and later made her his mistress. She is dependent upon him as a lover and father figure.He treats her as a possession. He is preparing her for a life as a courtesan. Once we understand her past we can be sympathetic to her and her ways. In his music Berg brings her finally to obtain the status of a tragic heroine.The orchestra of the Royal opera house is conducted by Pappano, who brings out the lyrical side to this serial work. It is minimalist in its staging, with modern dress. Lulu is Agenta Eichenholz who actually sings her part. Dr Schon is Michael Volle.Alwa is Klaus Vogt. Countess Geschwitz is Jennifer Larmore known for her work in Rameau operas and such like. Schigolch is Gwynne Howell. Well sung and acted. It is like a modern play with music. If you have never heard this music before, imagine some of the music of Mahlers 7th Symphony,abstracted. At first you may find it hard going, if you like the melodies of Puccini and Verdi. But keep going back to it. The tale and the music is worthwhile listening to. Once you get it, you will enjoy it. Serial music is often used in films.

Lulu is one of the best operas of all time and I have all three versions on Blu-ray. The other two versions both have their strengths, but this one is the standout, mainly because of the exquisite DTS-HD MA audio track which neither of the other versions have. If your audio system doesn't correctly decode DTS-HD MA (if you enjoy opera make sure it does. Only DTS-HD MA is a big enough container for powerful operatic performances. It can be hard to tell because if your system doesn't support it, your Blu-ray player will just send a reduced quality track and you won't even know until you hear it right. I know from bitter experience!), then the other recent one may also be a good choice. That one was a really colorful production and I thought Act I and II were better performed than on this one, but Act III is the best and this one nailed it. I would watch Act I and II on the other version and then finish off with Act III on this one until I got my audio fixed. Now there's just no comparison, this is the best Lulu hands down. The older Glyndebourne one that is just a pumped-up DVD version was an enjoyable performance but the audio quality was really pretty sad compared to this one.

Beats me how the previous three reviewers could have liked this--do they also like sticking pins in their eyeballs? Easily the worst production I have ever seen, of any opera, either live or on dvd. "Minimalist"--yes indeed: minimalist in staging, minimalist in color palette (mostly blacks, with a few dark greys), minimalist in emotional oomph (dry and lifeless). And everyone in the cast seems to be in on the downerness and uselessness of it all: all uninspired singing. Hey, if you want to "emphasize the music", as was the intention here, then just do a concert version of it. This production is just a half-hearted Singspiel. Oh, I did like one thing about it: I got it as a library item, so I did not end up spending my own money on it. This opera should jump out at you and grab you by the throat; this production does anything but, and does it self-consciously to boot. What a mess.

Je ne peux que partager les commentaires et l’enthousiasme d'Eliacin qui m'a précédé.Sur la magnifique partition de Berg, Christof Loy à créé une mise en scène minimaliste mais extrêmement fouillée. Du vrai théâtre chanté qui convient particulièrement bien à cette œuvre forte.La performance lyrique et dramatique des chanteurs est à la hauteur des ambitions du metteur en scène. Parfaitement épaulés par Antonion Pappano à la tête d'un orchestre dont les qualités sont magnifiées par la prise de son et la piste audio du Bluray.Une grande réussite.

Disregard the crusties who object to the minimalism of this production - I was there at the final performance and it was in every way superb. For this staging, the first at Convent garden for 28 years, Christof Loy discarded the period trappings that sometimes clutter Lulu productions in favour of a minimalist approach emphasising the expressionist, proto-Brechtian qualities of Wedekind's original plays. With its austere, contemporary aesthetic, Loy's reading swaps the decadence of Weimar Germany for the empty banality of postmodern capitalism. This emphasis on bare-bones psychological theatre has the advantage of allowing both the libretto and Berg's bold, lush score to come to the fore. In the lead role Swedish soprano Agneta Eichenholz, making her convent Garden debut, gives a performance of thrilling intensity and commitment. Even finer is Michael Volle as Dr Schön. This Blu Ray also documents the late, great Philip Langridge in his final performance, magnificently seedy and menacing as the Marquis. See my full review at [...]

This was the first opera I watched in the blue-ray format. I was ravished by it. Thanks to the high resolution, the minimalist production comes out --I dare say-- much more impressive than a more colorful one, and as displayed on my new LED TV, the black costumes and the black background are stunning. More importantly, the nuances of the acting, especially the facial expressions of Agneta Eichenholz, would be probably lost on a DVD, not to mention a CD. Since the one-star and two-star reviews agree on the excellent quality of the musical performance, I wish to insist that the staging seems to me artistically much more refined that the attractive but rather too picturesque Glyndebourne performance of 1996. I fully endorse Culturecrammer's remarks on Cristof Loy's aesthetics.