Berg: Wozzeck

[Don Giovanni]

Which is the best recording of Berg's essential opera? I've seen the Christoph von Dohnányi one recommended. I've also seen the Abbado - although I've heard there are some problems with it.

What would be a good first recording (the best one possible)?

[bhodges]

My current favorite -- I won't say it's "the best" since people have such varying opinions -- is with Bo Skovhus in the title role and Angela Denoke as Marie, with Ingo Metzmacher conducting.  It's a live recording, so the sound isn't perhaps state-of-the-art, but the payoff is in a certain presence (and the production looks fascinating from the photos in the booklet). 



I also have Pierre Boulez's version with Walter Berry and Isabel Strauss, also excellent (but I like Skovhus' timbre just a little more).  It appears to be out of print, but copies can probably be found somewhere.



--Bruce

[Todd]

My overall favorite is Abbado.  The orchestral playing is excellent overall and the dramatic action just right.  And no one leads a more intense murder scene.  Indeed, most others seem a bit flimsy. Issues, if that's what they are, are minor.   

After that I'd probably have to say Karl Bohm's 1955 live performance on Andante or Leif Segerstam's live take on Naxos (though the latter doesn't have the libretto) would be the way to go.  The big plus for Bohm is Walter Berry in better voice and drama than under Boulez (which is an aural X-ray recording - but what an X-ray!), though as in later performances, Bohm doesn't emphasize the modernity of the music enough for my taste.  It's sound like Berg-meets-Strauss at times.  The Segerstam is just plain good.

Boulez, as mentioned, is very good, but the dry, scratchy sound and unyielding clarity may be too much for some.  I have to disagree with Bruce regarding Metzmacher's set.  I really wanted to love it, but the characters start off too far gone - Wozzeck is already a raving looney at the start, and the Doctor is pure, caricatured evil - and the murder scene is wimpy.  It's been a long time since I heard Dohnanyi's recording, but it's the one that got me into this work and opera in general, so yes, it's good.  I'm waiting for Decca to repackage it and Dohnanyi's Lulu before splurging.  (I'm assuming Decca will do so at some point.)

[Drasko]

I've seen the Christoph von Dohnányi one recommended. I've also seen the Abbado - although I've heard there are some problems with it.

Though call. Dohnanyi has better Wozzeck, Abbado has better rest of the cast. Dohnanyi is studio recording with excellent balances while Abbado is live with orchestra pretty upfront and singers moving around and with unavoidable stage noises, which would make Dohnanyi front runner but I just immensely like the orchestral performance under Abbado, Dohnanyi to me sounds bit too smooth while Abbado is more exciting, thundering, rasping at climaxes.

But to quote Bruce:

people have such varying opinions

[Drasko]

After that I'd probably have to say Karl Bohm's 1955 live performance on Andante

I really need to get that one.

[Larry Rinkel]

I also have Pierre Boulez's version with Walter Berry and Isabel Strauss, also excellent (but I like Skovhus' timbre just a little more).  It appears to be out of print, but copies can probably be found somewhere.--Bruce

Isabel Strauss's Marie would put this out of the running for me. The high Bb at the end of Act One/Scene Three is so off pitch that I can't believe Boulez approved this. Faute de mieux, I'll cast my vote for Dohnanyi, but frankly I don't know any recording of Wozzeck that does everything I want.

[Todd]

I really need to get that one.

Try to find it on sale; it's not worth list price.

[MishaK]

I still have to add a decent recording of this to my ilbrary, so I appreciate these suggestions. What about the Barenboim set?

[bhodges]

Boulez, as mentioned, is very good, but the dry, scratchy sound and unyielding clarity may be too much for some. 

I think this is why I don't reach for this recording more often, because of the sound quality, which is kind of a shame.

--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

I still have to add a decent recording of this to my ilbrary, so I appreciate these suggestions. What about the Barenboim set?

I have it and enjoy it. Like the Abbado, it's live and miked very close and personal. The characters are in the room with you, the orchestra very detailed. Unlike Abbado, Barenboim plays down the modernity and presents a more romantic version, which I prefer (I was weaned on Böhm and DF-D). The Wozzeck, Grundheber, is common to both sets and is outstanding.

Sarge

[val]

My favorite version is the one conducted by Karl Böhm with the extraordinary Wozzeck of Fischer Dieskau. Evelyn Lear, Wunderlich and Stolze are also splendid.

The version of Dohnanyi would be my second choice. More dramatic and detailed, but Wächter has not the presence of Fischer Dieskau. Silja is very touching.

[springrite]

I had 4 or 5 versions at one point. The two that I settled on are Dohnany and Matroupolis.

[Don Giovanni]

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I'm probably going to settle with the Dohnányi recording. I now just need to find somewhere that does it at a decent price (amazon.co.uk seems a bit expensive). Until then, I might be tempted to buy Boulez's 'Lulu' since I'd really like to get some more modern opera at some point.

Thanks again.

[bhodges]

Until then, I might be tempted to buy Boulez's 'Lulu' since I'd really like to get some more modern opera at some point.

Succumb, succumb! 

--Bruce

[Todd]

Succumb, succumb! 

Bruce inexplicably forgot to add right now to his wise edict.

[Don Giovanni]

Ha! ha! I'm really very tempted to buy it in the very near future. Unfortunately, I'm at that stage of collecting music where there are hundreds of recordings I want and it's difficult trying to decide which I should get next. Nevertheless, I promise you, the next opera I get will be Lulu. 

[Larry Rinkel]

Ha! ha! I'm really very tempted to buy it in the very near future. Unfortunately, I'm at that stage of collecting music where there are hundreds of recordings I want and it's difficult trying to decide which I should get next. Nevertheless, I promise you, the next opera I get will be Lulu. 

An inescapable plus to Boulez is that he includes the Cerha-completed 3rd Act. But I would not be without the 2-act version starring Anneliese Rothenberger.

[Sean]

Dohnanyi is the first choice, a superbly idiomatic combination of clarity, expressionist intensity and late romantic orchestral indulgence; he really finds the essence of the piece as I'm sure no one else has done, doing justice to its spectacular imagination and stylistic variety, as well as its unity.

[Don Giovanni]

Thanks, Sean. I have seen that recording recommended in a number of guides. Unfortunately, it's not available directly from amazon.co.uk (other related suppliers are overpriced) and so I shall have to wait for a bit.

If anyone knows anywhere that I can get this recording for a reasonable price, I would be pleased if they would tell me (remember, I'm in England).

[Mirror Image]

So far I've heard three Wozzeck recordings: Kegel, Boulez, and Abbado. There are things I like/dislike about all of them, but I suppose that's a part of the search, eh? Kegel is the best one I've heard so far as his orchestral accompaniment is much more prominent than Boulez's. Here's his cast of vocalists: Theo Adam, Reiner Goldberg, Helmuth Klotz, Horst Hiestermann, Konrad Rupf, Gisela Schroter, and Gisela Pohl. I never heard of any of these vocalists. The orchestra Kegel employs is the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Next up on my to-listen-to list are Dohnanyi and Bohm. I don't own Metzmacher's and, since I usually buy the original issues, it's quite expensive as it's OOP.