Perfect!!!
Lulu is a very complex work. This DVD makes justice to all of the complexness of the work: musical and dramatic. First of all: Christine Schäfer. Since Teresa Stratas she is the most impressive singer to play this difficult role. As she is a genuine coloratura , Schäfer can handle with all these crazy cadenzas with naturality. And her personification of Lulu is as ambigous as Wedekind( the play ' s writer) has though. But it isn' t only Schäfer that is fantastic in this DVD. Wolfgang Schöne is a convincent Schon and Jack the riper.Stephan Drakulich as The Painter and the Neger is very sexy and exciting . The old wagnerian bass-baritone Norman Bailey is a moving and repulsive Schigolch (and yet in a very good voice).Alwa, one of the most demanding tenor roles in all lyric repertoire, is very well sung by David Kuebler, and his naive looking is very moving during all the performance.Kathryn Harries as Geschwitz is fantastic too. Her final singing is a golden key for...
Hair Raising - a Perfect Performance
I cannot say enough good about Glyndebourne's 1996 production of Berg's
opera recently (and finally) released on video here in the States.
Initially I believed I'd be disappointed in this unit set. Wrong. A tall,
brick semi-circular wall of red brick with offset white bricks that extend
as necessary into beams, creating an angular stage wide staircase joining
otherwise impossible to use doorways, etc. A bare floor with 3 or 4
concentric circles revolves (sometimes in opposite directions) as necessary
denoting scene changes etc. At its direct center is a vast round hole.
This circular concept is fascinatingly explored bookending Lulu's going
full circle - beginning and ending in the gutter. Interesting too watching
her rise from this hole (a really great visual) in her first scene to
sinking permanently into it in the final. Once again the team of Graham...
A winner
Lulu is not an easy opera to get to know. It is written in a twelve tone style (serial) invented by Arnold Schoenberg. But Berg's serial music is easier to listen to than Schoenberg and many parts of Lulu are beautiful in their own way.
This DVD is a perfect way to get acquainted with the score. It is a perfect performance and Christine Schafer has both the vocal resources for this difficult part as well as the looks and acting ability for this femme fatale. The rest of the cast are fully up to her.
The production is pretty bare: a brick wall with a stairway up to two doors, a wooden floor and chairs. But don't let that steer you off. The important thing in Lulu is passion, and it is here in spades.
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