Wozzeck

For a while expressionist music was a style that this reviewer more appreciated than loved, but it has not stopped me from considering 'Wozzeck' and 'Lulu' two of the greatest operas of the twentieth century.

Of the six productions seen of 'Wozzeck'- 1971/2 Hamburg, 1987 Vienna, 1994 Berlin, 1996 Frankfurt, 2001 Met and this- the best are the Hamburg and Berlin ones (with the Met and Vienna close behind) and this being the weakest by quite some way. It is a case of being mostly outstanding musically, but being perplexing visually and dramatically. And this is coming from someone who does not mind non-traditional productions.

There are many good things here. The orchestra convey every ounce of the dark harshness and tender lyricism of Berg's score through some beautifully shaped and highly atmospheric playing. Sebastian Wiegle's conducting is some of his most inspired, sympathetic and dramatically alert of any DVD featuring him as conductor. Technical values of the DVD are fine, with expansive and intricate video directing, sometimes cinematic, clear picture quality and resonant sound.

Quite a lot of the performances are also fabulous, Franz Hawlata coming out on top in a hugely moving and tortured account of the title role, his voice warm and sonorous without being too beautiful. Angela Denoke is a less sympathetic than usual Marie, playing her with more steel and headstrong edge yet still succeeds in bringing out the character's complexities, while she is also in beautiful and often thrilling voice. Hubert Delamboye is scarily neurotic as the Captain with great use of falsetto, while Johann Tilli is a terrifyingly sinister Doctor and is on booming form vocally.

Not all the performances work, David Kuebler's stentorian and both unsympathetic and lacking in passion Andres is particularly disappointing while Reiner Goldberg's Drum Major is charisma-swagger-and-substance-free. Steven Cole wails his way through the role of the Fool.

Where the production is most underwhelming is in the visuals and staging. 'Wozzeck' is a grim opera to begin with, but even the other productions seen didn't emphasise this grimness with the subtlety of an axe with cluttered, garish and really quite ugly visuals. Calixto Bieito is a very controversial director, who sometimes works for me but often has too many ideas that don't come off, and while it is not as wretched or as offensive as his Liceu 'Don Giovanni' his take on the opera is very one-sided, incredibly simplistic and sometimes incoherent, with few of the historical, political and religious aspects of the opera which make it as complex as it is present. Some of the staging is irrelevant, and Marie's murder is treated with anti-climactic indifference when it should be a highlight.

All in all, has a huge amount to like musically but didn't do anything for me when it came to the production values and staging. 5/10 Bethany Cox