Oy Ema Produced by Thomas Z
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ie ph oy ema Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard M2 : 30852 Columbia : MASTERWORKS Previously released as CBS Records 32 21 0002. PIERRE BOULEZ conducts ALBAN BERG’S “WOZZECk” “This new recording of ‘Wozzeck’ comes as near to an ideal realisation of WINNER GRAND PRIX DU DISQUE this finest opera of our century as could be wished for. The fact that the conductor is Pierre Boulez is of course crucial, but his cast, the Chorus and Orchestra of the Paris Opera and the CBS recording engineers are also ‘‘He seems to take us into Berg’s creative mind.” equal to the enormous challenge.” —Records and Recording —The Gramophone “In the CBS set we are moved by precision, vivid articulation of the score, exact rhythms, and Boulez’s unerring sense of the ‘meaning’ of a particular INTERNATIONAL PRAISE. GREETS ALBAN BERG’S passage—his revelation of why the composer set it down in the way he did. Z0th-CENTURY MASTERPIECE: He defines the forms. He handles the cross references, the motifs, the “MUSIC DRAMA OF ALMOST OVERWHELMING EMOTIONAL orchestral colours boldly and emphatically; he seems to take us into» POWER.” —Newsweek, Emily Coleman Berg’s creative mind.” —The Gramophone “ONE OF THE GREAT, ORIGINAL WORKS OF OUR TIME.” ABOUT “WOZZECK” —The New York Times, Howard ‘Taubman “The opera’s hero, Franz Wozzeck, is a cloddish German soldier haunted by nameless terrors, persecuted by everybody around him... He is ridiculed by his Captain, who seems to stand for the bluster of petty militarism. “ONE OF THE REMARKABLE OPERATIC INTERPRETATIONS He is used as a guinea pig by a doctor, a sadistic, fanatical embodiment of OF OUR GENERATION.” —The London Times science. Finally, he is betrayed by his sluttish mistress Marie, and he stabs her. Wozzeck himself drowns trying to recover the discarded knife. In a poignant last scene, their child trots off, unaware and innocent, on his PIERRE BOULEZ’S STUNNING RECORDING OF “WOZZECK,” hobbyhorse: .. ‘The wonder of this sordid and symbolic tale is that it is ALREADY RELEASED IN EUROPE, IS ACCLAIMED BY suffused with compassion heightened by the remarkable music Alban Berg ENGLAND'S LEADING CRITICS: wrote for it... The huge (113 instruments) orchestra sometimes bellows “Pierre Boulez’s splendid new recording of “Wozzeck’ originates in the stage in brassy rages, sometimes shrieks in lines of shrill angularity, sometimes production first seen at the Paris Opera in 1963, which he conducted. ... surprises with passages of softly breathing lyricism.” —Time The singers here, mostly excellent, are all well inside their roles, but the performance is Boulez’s, whose attention to the unity of Berg’s masterpiece, Album includes a 48-page booklet with complete German!/French/ English libretto; musical and dramatic, is reflected in a magnificently balanced and articles on “‘Wozzeck”’ by Pierre Boulez and Theodor W. Adorno; plus photos from the unified presentation of it.” —The New Statesman, Stephen Plaistow recording session. Manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS, Inc./51 W. 52 Street, New York, N.Y./@® ‘‘Columbia,”’ |@]|'‘“Masterworks,’’ Marcas Reg. Printed in U.S.A. ‘Wozzeck | Opera in three acts by Alban Berg From the drama, by Georg Buchner (Cast in order of appearance) Flauptmantts.eascataaetane ey Albert Weikenmeier Captain Le Capitaine Wozzeck mana cp ete ton atta: : .Walter Berry AW Gnesi rate ener athe eer Richard Van Vrooman Man @iscitecae eect iste srutsctaanon tan mensatenetas Isabel Strauss Maneale tee ei eteeres hc selemese at rimensernn cneganr ss Ingeborg Lasser DOO re ete crestor miner emer enreds Carl Doench Doctor Le Docteur TamMbPOUnMal Ole sac liters tee eS Fritz Uhl Drum Major Le Tambour-major 1. Handwerksbursche............. Walter Poduschka 1st Apprentice Ter Compagnon 2. Handwerksbursche ............. Raymond Steffner 2nd Apprentice 2éme Compagnon Der Nanisneiers adcavartec ra aati eae Gérard Dunan The Idiot Le Fou Soldaten und Burschen, Magde und Dirnen, Kinder | Soldiers and apprentices, girls and prostitutes, children Les Soldats, les compagnons, les filles et les filles des rues, les enfants Pierre Boulez conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Paris National Opera Chorus of the Paris National Opera directed by Jean Laforge Children’s Chorus of the Paris National Opera directed by Jean Pesneaud Produced by Thomas Z. Shepard Technical Supervision: Hellmuth Kolbe Book Design: Allen Weinberg Anlage und Interpretation der Oper “Wozzeck” Analysis and Interpretation of “Wozzeck” Situation et Interprétation de “Wozzeck” Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez Sowohl in Bergs eigener Entwicklung wie auch in der Both in the evolution of Alban Berg as a composer and in Dans I’évolution de Berg, aussi bien que dans I’histoire de Geschichte der Musik bedeutet “Wozzeck” einen Markstein; the history of music, Wozzeck is a milestone—a work of la musique, Wozzeck est une date capitale; cette oeuvre cons- dieses Werk stellt eine Bereicherung erster Gite fiir sein primary importance, displaying the same preoccupation with titue un apport de premiére importance dans le domaine ureigentliches Gebiet dar. Man findet darin dieselbe Absorp- form that characterizes his other principal works. auquel elle appartient. On y retrouve les mémes préoccupa- tion vom Formalen her, fast die gleiche ‘‘Besessenheit’” davon The scheme of this opera may be outlined as follows: tions formelles, presque les mémes manies que dans les wie in den Hauptwerken des Komponisten. a) Exposition—the first five scenes making up the first act; principaux chefs d’oeuvre de |’auteur. Das Schema dieser Oper liesse sich folgendermassen be- b) Development—the five scenes of the second act; Le schéma de cet opéra peut se décrire comme suit: schreiben: c) Catastrophe—the final five scenes, the third act. a) Exposition, qui, avec les cing premiéres scénes, forme a) die Exposition, die mit den fiinf ersten Szenen den The solid formal frame which Berg gave to Biichner’s text le premier acte; ersten Akt bildet; allowed him to create strong, almost architectural, music. b) Péripétie, qui comporte les cing scénes suivantes pour b) die Peripetie, die die folgenden fiinf Szenen zum zwei- Certain parallels can be found between the first and third constituer le deuxiéme acte; ten Akt zusammenfasst; acts surrounding the longer and more important second c) Catastrophe, avec les cing derniéres scenes réunies dans c) die Katastrophe mit ihren im dritten Akt vereinigten, act. Furthermore, the second act employs stricter forms than le troisiéme acte. letzten fiinf Szenen. the free ones used in acts one and three. Finally, each act La solide armature formelle que Berg avait donnée au texte Das starke formale Geriist, das Berg dem Biichnerschen Text ends with a cadence on the same chord, although they are de Buchner allait lui servir a établir fortement l’architecture gegeben hat, diente ihm zur festen Verankerung seiner musi- voiced differently. de sa musique. On trouve un certain parallélisme entre les kalischen Architektur. Man findet eine gewisse Parallelitat A short summary: the five scenes of the first act are five actes | et III, qui encadrent un acte II plus long et plus im- beim ersten und dritten Akt, die beide den laéngeren und character studies—a suite, rhapsody, marche militaire, coupled portant; de plus, l’acte II emploie des formes plus rigoureuses gewichtigeren zweiten Akt einrahmen; iiberdies weist der with a cradle song, passacaglia and a quasi rondo. The five que les formes libres utilisées dans les actes | et III. Enfin, zweite Akt eine strengere Formgebung auf im Vergleich zu scenes of the second act are similar to a symphony in five chaque acte se termine par une cadence sur le méme accord, der im ersten und dritten Akt verwendeten lockeren Form. movements—sonata, fantasy and fugue, largo, scherzo, rondo avec, pourtant, des modifications dans sa disposition. Und schliesslich endet jeder Akt mit einer Kadenz auf demsel- con introduzione. And five scenes of the third act are made Briévement résumé: les cing scénes du premier acte sont ben Akkord, wenn auch in der Anlage modifiziert. up of “inventions” on a theme, a sound, a rhythm, a chord, des piéces caractéristiques (Suite, Rhapsodie, Marche militaire Kurz zusammengefasst: die fiinf Szenen des ersten Aktes sind a key, and a perpetuum mobile. et Berceuse, Passacaille, Quasi Rondo); les cing scénes du Charakterstiicke [Suite, Rhapsodie, Militarmarsch und Wiegen- A summary might lead one to think that Berg had reverted second acte constituent les cing mouvements d’une sym- lied, Passacaglia, Andante affetuoso (quasi rondo)]; die funf to the operatic form of pre-Wagnerian set pieces; however, phonie (Sonate, Fantaisie et Fugue, Largo, Scherzo, Rondo Szenen des zweiten Aktes bilden eine Symphonie in finf his genius allowed him to resolve the contradictions between con Introduzione); les cing scénes du troisieme acte peuvent Satzen (Sonatensatz, Fantasie und Fuge, Largo, Scherzo, the concept of opera separated into component parts and the étre considérées comme des Inventions (sur un Théme, sur Rondo con Introduzione); die fiinf Szenen des dritten Aktes continuous music drama of Wagner. Wozzeck, in this respect, un Son, sur un Rythme, sur un Accord puis sur une Tonalité, kénnen als Inventionen betrachtet werden (Invention Uber marks the summing up of opera, and perhaps Berg has thus sur un Mouvement perpétuel). ein Thema, uber einen Ton, ber einen Rhythmus, iiber einen definitely written “finis’” to the history of opera. It really On pourrait croire d’aprés cet énoncé que Berg revient a Sechsklang, Uber eine Tonart, uber eine gleichmassige seems that, after a work such as this, musical spectacle must l’ancienne forme de l’opéra par numéros séparés pratiquée Achtelbewegung). search for other means of expression. avant Wagner; en réalité, son génie a été de résoudre |’antino- Man kénnte nach dieser Gliederung glauben, dass Berg zur From a thematic point of view, the Leitmotif (it would be mie qui existe entre une conception cloisonnée et le drame alten Opernform mit getrennten Szenen zuriickgekehrt sei, more exact to call it a reca/! motif) plays an entirely different musical continu tel que Wagner I’a laissé.