Album

It doesn't matter if you've heard Karl Böhm's incomplete but compelling recording of Berg's Lulu or Pierre Boulez' complete but not quite as compelling Lulu, you've got to hear Paul Daniels' complete and overwhelmingly compelling Lulu. Why? Because not only is it complete—that is, not only does it include the two acts finished and orchestrated by Berg but the third act finished but left unorchestrated by Berg and realized almost fifty years later by Friedrich Cerha—but because this Lulu is sung in Richard Stokes' suave, sophisticated and somewhat decadent English translation. The gain in immediacy is incredible and the gain in intensity is immeasurable. All at once, Berg's final opera comes alive for English-speaking audiences ohne Deutsche. Paul Daniel's direction, while not as masterful as Böhm's or as precise as Boulez's, is still brilliantly colorful and dramatically driven. He grasps the opera's human drama and articulates its musical shape as two entwined parts of the total work, thereby making riveting theater out of what can sometimes seem to be Berg's too overly cerebral inventions. The singers, stars of British opera although not nearly so well-known overseas, turn in fine to superb performances—Lisa Saffer is persuasive if not altogether seductive as Lulu, Susan Parry is convincing if a bit too histrionic as the Countess Geschwitz, Gwynne Howell is commanding if somewhat dilapidated as Schigolch—but the real star of the performance is Stokes' translation. While of course it will never replace the German text, Stokes' first-rate work may introduce Lulu to a whole new audience.

Chandos' sound is big, colorful and detailed if a bit too distant.





© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1 of 3
Alban Berg Composer Lulu (opera)...Act 1 Work 59:38 Paul Daniel Conductor, Stuart Kale Tenor, Paul Napier-Burrows Bass, Claire Mitcher Soprano, Toby Stafford-Allen Baritone, Liz Rowe Piano, Robert Hayward Baritone, Susan Parry Mezzo-Soprano, Lisa Saffer Soprano, Alan Oke Tenor, Robert Poulton Baritone, Gwynne Howell Bass, Jane Powell Mezzo-Soprano, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Moira Harris Soprano, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Graeme Danby Bass, Anna Burford Mezzo-Soprano, Roger Begley Bass
1	Prologue: Roll up, roll up for the menagerie	4:20			$0.99
2	Sc.1: Am I trespassing?	2:01			$0.99
3	Sc.1: Gnädige Frau. Frau Medizinalrat	1:38			$0.99
4	Sc.1: You are far too slow to capture me	0:51			$0.99
5	Sc.1: What's happening?	0:46			$0.99
6	Sc.1: Open the door!	0:56			$0.99
7	Sc.1: Just wait, he'll jump right up	1:31			$0.99
8	Sc.1: Can't you help him recover his senses?	2:12			$0.99
9	Sc.1: You make me jealous, you lucky bastard!	1:44			$0.99
10	Sc.1: Please help me do this up	1:44			$0.99
11	Sc.2: Eva! What is it? (no.1)	1:10			$0.99
12	Sc.2: Eva! What is it? (no.2)	1:53			$0.99
13	Sc.2: He's not quite what I imagined him to be	4:16			$0.99
14	Sc.2: If you and I married	6:26			$0.99
15	Sc.2: So? Your marriage has made you at least a million marks	5:03			$0.99
16	Sc.2: Don't talk so loud	3:26			$0.99
17	Sc.2: Verwandlung	3:27			$0.99
18	Sc.3: I've never in my life known an audience so excited	2:16			$0.99
19	Sc.3: More for me, please	1:31			$0.99
20	Sc.3: That girl and her lovers	1:12			$0.99
21	Sc.3: I met her first at Dr Schön's	1:33			$0.99
22	Sc.3: She's had a sort of fainting fit	0:33			$0.99
23	Sc.3: What's wrong with her?	1:09			$0.99
24	Sc.3: How dare you attempt to ruin my well-laid plans?	5:01			$0.99
25	Sc.3: Take this pen and paper	2:59			$0.99
CD 2 of 3
Alban Berg Composer Lulu (opera)...Act 2 Work 51:48 Paul Daniel Conductor, Stuart Kale Tenor, Paul Napier-Burrows Bass, Claire Mitcher Soprano, Toby Stafford-Allen Baritone, Liz Rowe Piano, Robert Hayward Baritone, Susan Parry Mezzo-Soprano, Lisa Saffer Soprano, Alan Oke Tenor, Robert Poulton Baritone, Gwynne Howell Bass, Jane Powell Mezzo-Soprano, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Moira Harris Soprano, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Graeme Danby Bass, Anna Burford Mezzo-Soprano, Roger Begley Bass
1	Sc.1: Delighted that you will be there this evening	3:17			$0.99
2	Sc.1: Why not stay here?	1:58			$0.99
3	Sc.1: Thank the Lord, that at last we're	2:22			$0.99
4	Sc.1: You know it's she he really wanted to marry	0:45			$0.99
5	Sc.1: I hope you locked the windows	1:39			$0.99
6	Sc.1: The matinée will be lit by ultra-violet light	3:15			$0.99
7	Sc.1: Is he ill?	2:55			$0.99
8	Sc.1: His father!	0:57			$0.99
9	Sc.1: And where did he go?	2:55			$0.99
10	Sc.1: Even though men have killed themselves because of who I am	2:27			$0.99
11	Sc.1: Kneel down, murderous bitch!	2:42			$0.99
12	Sc.1: You can't deliver me up for trial!	1:05			$0.99
13	Sc.1: Film Music	2:58			$0.99
14	Sc.2: We're like the players waiting for a bandleader	4:30			$0.99
15	Sc.2: This way is shorter	6:09			$0.99
16	Sc.2: Hey, little Lulu, it's time we scarpered over the border	4:14			$0.99
17	Sc.2: You're still as ravishing and youthful as in your portrait	3:45			$0.99
18	Sc.2: Beneath this dress I feel your form in harmony	3:55			$0.99
CD 3 of 3
Alban Berg Composer Lulu (opera)...Act 3 Work 53:01 Paul Daniel Conductor, Stuart Kale Tenor, Paul Napier-Burrows Bass, Claire Mitcher Soprano, Toby Stafford-Allen Baritone, Liz Rowe Piano, Robert Hayward Baritone, Susan Parry Mezzo-Soprano, Lisa Saffer Soprano, Alan Oke Tenor, Robert Poulton Baritone, Gwynne Howell Bass, Jane Powell Mezzo-Soprano, English National Opera Orchestra Orchestra, Moira Harris Soprano, John Graham-Hill Tenor, Graeme Danby Bass, Anna Burford Mezzo-Soprano, Roger Begley Bass
1	Sc.1: Gentlemen and Ladies!	2:42			$0.99
2	Sc.1: Get to the point and say how much you want from me	0:51			$0.99
3	Sc.1: Of the countless nubile, fun-loving lasses	2:09			$0.99
4	Sc.1: The magistrate will reward anyone who finds the murderers	3:06			$0.99
5	Sc.1: It's good! It's looking good!	1:35			$0.99
6	Sc.1: May I intrude?	2:18			$0.99
7	Sc.1: Message for the Bank Director	0:59			$0.99
8	Sc.1: I need some money, in ready cash	3:28			$0.99
9	Sc.1: You could at least treat me with respect!	2:38			$0.99
10	Sc.1: Martha!	2:21			$0.99
11	Sc.1: I have lost all my money	2:09			$0.99
12	Sc.1: What the hell is this?	3:32			$0.99
13	Sc.2: The rain's beating a tattoo	4:34			$0.99
14	Sc.2: If this is not the ideal moment	5:52			$0.99
15	Sc.2: Come along in, my love! Come!	3:30			$0.99
16	Sc.2: Doctor Alwa's gone off to sleep	2:40			$0.99
17	Sc.2: Who is that?	4:59			$0.99
18	Sc.2: These are the last few moments	3:38			$0.99