StarThrower Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 This 2 disc set is a fine introduction to Berg's music Also included are the Three Orchestral Pieces, Seven Early Songs, piano sonata, and four pieces for clarinet and piano. Quote
David Ayers Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 The last Lulu I saw was in English with Lisa Saffer. I'd love to see Petibon do it. There are actually THREE videos of her in the role. Quote
T.D. Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Holy shit! Pretty wild, isn't it? I have the Boulez recording, also saw a live (J. Levine) performance. Haven't listened in a long time, but passages like Du hast eine halbe Million geheiratet stick in my mind. If you're not familiar with Wozzeck, I strongly recommend it too. Not quite as bizarre as Lulu, but definitely out there. Weirdly, that was the first opera I ever attended! Edited October 15, 2014 by T.D. Quote
David Ayers Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 My last Wozzeck was Keith Warner's production at the ROH last year. Crack cast and deserves a DVD. Wozzeck : Simon Keenlyside Marie: Karita Mattila Captain – Gerhard Siegel Doctor – John Tomlinson Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Changed my mind on Webern since 2005. Still not whistling Six Piece for Orchestra in the shower, but... I found the Boulez 'complete' box a way in (ludicrously cheap as a download) - more 'conventional' late-Romantic song there which gives the authorised music a context. I have that 'Lulu' (Petibon etc). Superb - lurid but utterly gripping with very creative staging (with the performers sometimes in the audience). I've often thought the suite from Lulu a good way into Berg. Edited October 15, 2014 by A Lark Ascending Quote
JSngry Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 Petibon as Lulu is one of the most athletic performances I've ever seen anybody give. She's doing all this choreography and making all these facial/cranial contortions/jerks, all this humping and writhing and everything else, running all over the place and at the same time singing the shit of of what was once considered to to be an "unsingable" work. Not just for a little while either, the thing runs damn near three hours and if she's not in all of it, I'd wager that she puts in the total time of a vintage James Brown or Stones show, if not more. It's not lip-synched either, obviously. Plus, dare I say it, she's got a great ass and knows how to use it, you don't learn that type of thing for a single role, if you know what I mean, you gotta have something goin' on in the first place like that. What was so mesmerizing for me was the authenticity of the sexual compulsiveness in the service of totally superb singing, and/or vice-versa. Chick oughta be a freakin' superstar in a perfect world, or even a halfway good one! Subtitles = no excuses, world, get with it! I gather that she's known for more "traditional" repertoire? Well, that's nice! Quote
sgcim Posted October 15, 2014 Report Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) My last Wozzeck was Keith Warner's production at the ROH last year. Crack cast and deserves a DVD. Wozzeck : Simon Keenlyside Marie: Karita Mattila Captain – Gerhard Siegel Doctor – John Tomlinson I just read an amusing story in David Raksin's autobiography about Wozzeck. Raksin was hired to write the music for Abe Polansky's film "Force of Evil", and Polansky told him he wanted something more modern from him, like Berg's Wozzeck. Later, at a party at Raksin's house, Polansky remarked to Raksin about the music that was playing on the phonograph, "Dave, do you think you could turn off that disgusting crap you're playing on the phonograph?" Raksin replied, "Abe, that is Berg's Wozzeck..." Hollywood... Edited October 15, 2014 by sgcim Quote
MomsMobley Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 (edited) Christine Schaefer preceding & complementary to Petibon-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfdP4II20Cg earlier rep with good band, she's esp. excellent in Handel here & elsewhere-- check out her Rameau also-- Edited October 16, 2014 by MomsMobley Quote
JSngry Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 Yeah, I finished the Lulu DVD last night and upon recovering, did a little browsing about to see what other DVDs of Lulu were out there, and Schaefer's was repeatedly praised, so...already ordered. But I do thank you for reinforcing my decision, seriously. The earlier repertoire...I'll answer the call if/when it comes. But I gotta say, that hair, it's working for me no matter what, if you know what I mean. But I can't listen to hair. Shirttails, yes. Hair, no. Quote
David Ayers Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 The aria which begins and ends the second video above is Cleopatra's Quando Voglio from Sartorio's Julius Caesar in Egypt. I'd never heard it myself before but it is a favourite on what is one of my favourite recital discs. PS the Schaeffer DVD was made at Glyndebourne about ten years ago. I saw it on TV and don't own it but I have a suspicion the quality and aspect ratio may not be what you would wish for - not what I would wish for anyway. I am thinking of ordering the new Barbara Hannigan one myself. Quote
MomsMobley Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 (edited) J. yes, stick to repertoire that grabs you & furrow from there. I drift in & out of older musics myself; there was a time in mid-90s however I went ALL medieval, renaissance & baroque, thought I shoulld work on 'fundamentals' or whatever, thankfully it was time when 'early music' ensembles were really starting to cook, throwing off romantic accretions & timid scholarship, sometimes dubious chops of '60s through '80s... there are some awful American & English early music groups, for example, that would scare anyone off even Bach, let alone Handel or Rameau... which shit is often virtuosic in the bebop sense so if you can't gimme at least that... thankfully tho', and Petibon's great hair is part of it, there are goodly # of musicians, instrumentalists & singers, who have the chops & gumption to make things as exciting, fresh as they were always intended to be. The French know how to dance too. Edited October 16, 2014 by MomsMobley Quote
David Ayers Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 Advice advice advice. Dallas Opera is doing Die Tote Stadt this season. They may need your help. ROH needed mine. But there was nothing I could do for them. Brave. As they say. Quote
ATR Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 Comprehension and appreciation of the music known as 12 tone, including Schoenberg Berg and Webern, is critical to understanding the development of contemporary Western classical music. And even then you have not gotten around to Cage, minimalism (e.g. Reich), maximalism (e.g. Babbitt), or Harry Partch. But anyway, both box sets of complete Webern are excellent and the DG is, if that is possiblle, more complete IIRC. Welcome to the XXth century. Quote
JSngry Posted October 16, 2014 Report Posted October 16, 2014 Advice advice advice. Dallas Opera is doing Die Tote Stadt this season. They may need your help. ROH needed mine. But there was nothing I could do for them. Brave. As they say. I need help to get a time machine...that happened in March of this year... Quote
David Ayers Posted October 18, 2014 Report Posted October 18, 2014 Advice advice advice. Dallas Opera is doing Die Tote Stadt this season. They may need your help. ROH needed mine. But there was nothing I could do for them. Brave. As they say. I need help to get a time machine...that happened in March of this year... Ha ha. I got that (after I posted) but in fairness to myself I think it was the link on their site that was out of date. It really *was* a brave choice for such a company. Strangely, I see on Opera Base that Die Tote Stadt has received quite a few performances recently. While it is of interest as belonging to the whole febrile period which led to Lulu I can't quite understand why there has been so much interest in it.... Quote
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