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Alban Berg's LULU

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Reiner Torheit
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« on: June 23, 2009, 10:20:46 pm »

There has been quite a bit of discussion recently - on two other messageboards - of the current Covent Garden production of Alban Berg's LULU.  The gist of the discussion - apart from the usual "all stage directors are self-important pranksters & mountebanks" crowd to be expected whenever opera is discussed - is that the production fails to address the issues inherent in the libretto.

I present then, for your perusal, a rather poorly-filmed version (on a wobbly hand-held cam) of the Moscow Helikon Opera production.  It's been chopped into 10-minute chunks due to the YouTube rules, making it even more difficult to view.  However, if you can tolerate this and the equally low-fi sound that goes with the YoutTube medium...  there is a production of some depth and substance here, and the entire opera is there if you wish to make your way through the clips.

Dmitry Bertmann directs, and wunderkind conductor Nikolai Chudovsky conducts.  The cast includes Tatiana Kuinji (Lulu), Ksenia Vyaznikova (Countess Geschwitz), Mikhail Davydov (Dr Schon and voice of Jack the Ripper), Mihail Seryshev (Artist), Dmitry Bolotin (Negro), Dmitry Kanin (Ringmaster), Ilya Ilin (Schoolboy), Marina Karpechenko (17-year-old-girl), Vassily Evdokimov (Cablegram Boy), Dmitry Ovchinnikov (Schigolch), Dmitry Khromov (Alva - in fact Khromov was the understudy and appeared in this performance with very little notice).

 
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2009, 03:01:17 am »

Any feedback after watching these clips?  ::)
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guest2
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« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2009, 10:01:34 am »

Thank you Mr. T - this thread has just crossed my consciousness-threshold. I am not a great opera fan, but now that I have watched the first two clips I find it a worthwhile experience which I can certainly recommend to others.

Since I am not at all familiar with the YouTube affair, it was necessary to jump through a few hoops before I could see the films, and it may assist other members if I list them here:

1) In my browser (Opera) there was at first a blank space below Mr. T's words "very little notice." I had to go to the Tools menu - Quick preferences - Enable plug-ins, then hit Control-R to refresh the page. At that point the clip appears embedded in the page of this forum, waiting to be played.

2) To find the rest of the opera, beyond this first ten-minute chunk, I had to right-click on the clip, and select "Watch on YouTube."

3) Then on the right there is the phrase "More From: Chudoconductor." Click on that, and you will see a list of - among other things - some more clips entitled A.Berg Lulu Helikon-Opera.

4) Scroll down to the end of that list and click on "See all 60 videos." At that point you will see a complete list of - among other things - all the separate Lulu clips in no particular order. I think, but am not sure, that there are eighteen of them in all, numbered from 1 to 18. There are all sorts of computerized sorting options to click on which become quite confusing.

5) Now it just so happens that I received to-day in the letter-box a computer magazine with a free programme that enables one to download YouTube videos at the best available quality and save them on one's hard disc, where they may be played at will when off-line. This is why Mr. T's post attracted my attention to-day. Here it is - it is called YouGrab. I installed it an hour ago and tried it with the first two Lulu clips, and it works well, giving a choice between saving an mp4 file or an flv file.

6) So the final step for an opera lover, after having downloaded all eighteen or however many clips, would be to stitch them all back together again. I am sure there will be programmes that do that, but have not yet investigated. Perhaps other members can assist.

Incidentally I have the complete libretto with German and English printed in adjacent columns; it came with the Boulez performance on four cassettes which I bought for £19.65 at Templar Records just twenty-five years ago. (Although the sound without the vision is not a great deal of use when listening to opera I now find.) If any one wants a scan of that libretto please ask - although it is probably available on the inter-net.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2009, 03:36:36 pm »

I agree, it's an annoying business trying to watch more extended material on YouTube.  Unfortunately YouTube grant the right to post longer clips (longer than 10 minutes) only to their corporate-size members, or others who can evidence massive viewerships.  The "ten minute rule" thus forces others to chop their material down into bite-size chunks...  and inevitably with classical music, clips of even less than ten minutes arise, out of the need to make "breaks" at the least intrusive moments  (rather like the disk changes familiar in opera box sets of our black-vinyl yesteryears).

Thank you for persisting with LULU - I think it's a remarkable production, despite the poor quality of the video presentation.
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