Above: Toni Blankenheim as Wozzeck
~ Author: Oberon
This specially-filmed production of Alban Berg's WOZZECK from the Hamburg Opera is sort of a companion piece to the same Company's MEISTERSINGER, which I raved about not long ago. Both performances seem to have been made expressly for television, and some of the same artists are involved, both in the production aspects and as singers.
While the MEISTERSINGER was ingeniously filmed in a vast studio space, WOZZECK has been filmed on location. The town seems to be an abandoned fortress area, very dreary; all the exterior scenes are heavy with palpable moisture, while the interiors are claustrophobic and sterile. The quality of the film is surprisingly high, as you can perhaps sense from the screen captures I have included here.
The opera itself sounds simply thrilling; conductor Bruno Maderna (above) gives the score a darkling, lyrical glow whilst managing to honor all the angularity that makes it unique. The orchestra is superb, and the cast is fabulous.
Toni Blankenheim (above), a great Beckmesser in the MEISTERSINGER film, is just as impressive in the title-role of the Berg. His suffering is palpable, as is his inexpressible love for Marie. Harried and ordered about by the Captain and the Doctor, cheated on by Marie, and degraded by the Drum Major, Wozzeck is the epitome of the beaten man right from the start. Mr. Blankenheim makes him achingly real, and sings perfectly into the bargain.
Sena Jurinac (above) is a compellingly human Marie: vain, duplicitous, manipulative, and god-fearing all at once. She looks striking, although perhaps too neatly coiffed. I have never been a fan of Jurinac's singing, usually finding her strayings from pitch quite off-putting. Perhaps I should try listening to her again, because she certainly makes tremendous impression here.
Above: Jurinac's flirtation - and eventual coupling - with the Drum Major (played by Richard Cassilly, above) sets up the opera's lurid climax.
It's a stellar cast all down the line: Hans Sotin (above), who went on to a long and glorious Wagnerian career, is simply perfect as the Doctor who uses Wozzeck as a guinea pig for his theoretical experiments in the field of nutrition...and urination. Sotin, who was my first full-Cycle Wotan/Wanderer, is chilling to watch and wonderful to hear.
As the Doctor's sidekick, the Captain, tenor Gerhard Unger (above, with Sotin) plays a character vastly different from his excellent David in the MEISTERSINGER film. Unger is a first-class character tenor...one who can really sing.
One of Wozzeck's few friends, the rather bumbling but good-natured Andres, is played by tenor Peter Haage. Blankenheim and Haage, above, in the desolate field of reeds, give a sense of the dreariness of their lives.
Later, at the tavern, Haage sings Andres's ballad in a happy/tipsy frame of mind (above).
At the crowded dance-hall/tavern, Marie's friend Margret (the very pretty Elisabeth Steiner, above) submits to Wozzeck's fondling whilst she sings her Swabia-lied.
In a tour de force performance, the great basso Kurt Moll (above) portrays the First Workman. He sings magnificently, and makes a most believable drunk. His boozing buddy, by the way, is none other than baritone Franz Grundheber.
Tenor Kurt Marschner (above, with Toni Blankenheim as Wozzeck) is a Gollum-like Madman; he gives off a disturbing air of being totally disconnected from reality.
Overall, this WOZZECK is thoroughly absorbing, both musically and dramatically. I've watched it twice already...and will come back to it, for sure.
As I have recently learned, the WOZZECK and MEISTERSINGER are part of a ten-DVD set of operas specially produced in Hamburg around 1970.
Author: Oberon