Composer(s): Berg, Alban
Lyricist(s): Berg, Alban
Arranger(s): Cerha, Friedrich
Conductor(s): Pappano, Antonio
Label: Opus Arte
Genre: Opera DVD
Period: 20th Century; Contemporary
Catalogue No: OABD7070D
Barcode: 809478070702
Distribution Note(s):
Available Worldwide
Release Date: 06/2010

BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (Blu-ray, HD)

Alban Berg
LULU

(with Act III completed by Friedrich Cerha)
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

 

LuluAgneta Eichenholz
Dr. Schön / Jack the RipperMichael Volle
AlwaKlaus Florian Vogt
Countess GeschwitzJennifer Larmore
SchigolchGwynne Howell
Animal Trainer / AthletePeter Rose
Prince / Manservant / MarquisPhilip Langridge
Dresser / Schoolboy / GroomHeather Shipp
Painter / Policeman / NegroWill Hartmann
Banker / Professor - Jeremy White

Royal Opera House Orchestra
Antonio Pappano
, conductor

Christof Loy, stage director
Herbert Murauer, designs
Eva-Mareike Uhligcostume co-designer
Reinhard Traublighting designer
Thomas Wilhelmmovement director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, June 2009.

 

Bonus:
- Cast gallery
- Interview with Antonio Pappano and Agneta Eichenholz

 

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM Stereo 2.0 / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu language: English
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish
Running time: 205 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (BD 50)

 

WARNING: Contains scenes of violence

 

Note: This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (NTSC) Opus Arte OA1034D
BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (Blu-ray, HD) Opus Arte OABD7070D

…musically it is spot on. Antonio Pappano really works wonders with the orchestra; you will rarely hear this music so transparent and at the same time so emotionally charged.

…Jennifer Larmore is an exceptionally attractive Geschwitz. And Agneta Eichenholz (with her big eyes pretty much the reincarnation of Audrey Hepburn) is a beautiful Lulu in every way. Michael Volle is for me, after Franz Mazura, the best Dr Schön. © 2023 Basia con fuoco Read complete review


BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (NTSC) OA1034D
BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (Blu-ray, HD) OABD7070D

The Royal Opera’s controversially ‘minimalist’ Lulu transfers to DVD

The promises of the Animal Trainer are more than usually hollow at the start of Christof Loy’s Lulu. He wants us to work hard, to forget chasing any scent or taint of voyeurism, to do better than the deadbeats who fall under Lulu’s spell. But why do they? The limit of Agneta Eichenholz’s powers of seduction is reached with a crooked Mona Lisa of a smile. There’s nothing coquettish about her reaction to the death of her first husband: she seems perpetually appalled by both herself and the world. In the accompanying documentaries she stresses how difficult the piece is, both for her and the audience, while Pappano is keen to bring clarity, in both his conducting and his talking; he thinks that Loy’s production, being “devoid of any kind of decoration…helps the music to be heard more clearly”. Like many productions now staged with an eye to DVD release, the 16:9 shape of the stage and intimacy of gesture certainly make more sense now than they did in the theatre unless you sat at the front of the stalls (I didn’t).

The singers, like some of us, meet Loy’s challenge with varying success. Will Hartmann is a wonderfully open, naive Painter, a Schubertian young Wanderer. Jennifer Larmore and Gwynne Howell present the most convincingly fleshed-out characters but the least well-harmonised with the production, because they seem to carry with them the vocal and theatrical memories of their previous work in the roles. Klaus Florian Vogt is uneasy all round and sometimes seems unsure what show he’s appearing in. Heather Shipp’s pert and direct Schoolboy could stand for my own experience: (s)he sees most of what’s going on, is happy to take part but with only a flickering sense of what it means. Berg’s proud dedication of the score to Schoenberg now seems less relevant than ever: “This German opera…is indigenous in the sphere of the most German music”—including, perhaps, the anti-Semitic jibe he inserted in Act 3 (which the eagle-eyed Schoenberg alighted upon and so refused to have anything to do with a completion).


BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (NTSC) OA1034D
BERG, A.: Lulu (Royal Opera House, 2009) (Blu-ray, HD) OABD7070D

Covent Garden’s second-ever production of Berg’s brilliant second opera came in for both praise and criticism when it opened, due to the stripped-down, minimalist staging by Christof Loy. As captured on DVD, it seems like a concert reading at first, with everyone in fairly hip black-and-white contemporary clothes in front of a glass background. There’s no set: locked rooms and scene endings are conveyed with changes in lighting, which is good for the dramatic flow. Lulu’s portrait, perhaps the key prop in the entire drama, is here absent—or rather, it is conveyed by a projected circle of light into which the characters peer, or in front of which they pose. Some operagoers found the strict emphasis on personal interaction too stark in the theater, but on the home screen, Loy’s intelligent Personenregie more than holds interest—though it helps if one already knows Lulu pretty well.

Antonio Pappano has the ROH orchestra playing beautifully, though tension goes notably wanting in Act III. Agneta Eichenholz, a slight, raven-haired Swedish soprano in her first high-profile assignment, makes a brave, ultimately successful Lulu; seen close up, her expressive face, with its enigmatic off-kilter smile, does much interpretive work here. Her singing is also expressive and tonally pleasant, despite occasional screaminess on top, though she lacks the spectacular precise attack of Patricia Wise or Laura Aikin in the role. This Lulu is no innocent: her hands wander provocatively onto each of her eventual victims. Jennifer Larmore, singing effectively, wisely follows Evelyn Lear’s example, stressing Geschwitz’s elegant femininity; at the end, she unexpectedly survives.

Michael Volle, younger than many singers who essay Dr. Schön—who here simply becomes Jack the Ripper—also plays the Animal Trainer’s assistant in the prologue. He offers a strong, varied, verbally incisive portrayal of the publisher in his arc of deterioration and an excellent account of the music, even when partially smeared with greasepaint and stage blood (a Loy touch I found less than inspired). Klaus Florian Vogt makes an attractive Alwa, though with his “young Parsifal” blankness he seems too naïve for the privilege-besotted playwright. His patented “choirboy” soft-edged sound strains at the climax of Act II. Will Hartmann plays with considerable detail the ungrateful roles of the Painter and the Negro (here looking just like the bloodied Painter).

The late Philip Langridge enacts his three cameos (Prince/Servant/Marquis) with abundant artistry. Peter Rose is cast as much against type as the Athlete as most opera critics would be, including myself; both his singing and gestures seem overdone in this production’s spare context. Heather Shipp, in what I expect I will always think of as the “Hilda Harris parts”—Dresser, Schoolboy, Groom—is directed along the same lines. Gwynne Howell makes a sonorous Schigolch, evoking a louche Alfred P. Doolittle.

The two-DVD set includes interviews with the lead soprano and conductor. This is a fascinating issue.



Alban Berg