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Berg: Lulu - Zurich/Welser Most
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Lulu is a Scottish singer. She was born on November 3, 1948 in Glasgow & shot to fame at the age of fifteen with her version of Shout, delivered in a raucous & extremely mature voice. Her backing group were called The Luvvers, but she soon ditched them to become a mainstream solo artist. In 1966 she made her debut as a film actress in To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier & had a major hit with the films title song. In the meantime, she continued with a thriving pop career & several television series of her own. In 1969, she represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest & was joint winner with representatives from three other countries - there had never been a draw before & the rules were altered to prevent it ever happening again. In the same year, Lulu married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in a fairytale ceremony in Gerrards Cross. Their careers forced them apart & they divorced, childless, in 1973. Lulu then married her hairdresser, John Frieda & remained with him for twenty years until another divorce. They had one son, Jordan Frieda. Posters Of LuluAs per convention, the incomplete version uses film in the last act, remarkably well done too. Something unbelievably haunting hangs in the air with the music & film as presented here. It becomes almost nightmarish.
Laura Aikin presents an excellent Lulu both physically & vocally. I prefer her to Christine Schafer of the Glyndebourne recording. Aitkin is more innocently sexual than purely sensual which brings it closer to the character of Lulu for me. Many Lulus are operatically good but cannot bring off the femme fatale. This one does. The cast generally presents the ironies & cynicism well. I found minor faults but nothing that spoiled enjoyment. The DVD presentation is very clear but more could be made of the sound. Heard through good quality audio equipment the fluffy edges start to show. Very possibly this is the acoustic of the Zurich Opera House .
The performance is competent & tends to make something of Bergs beautiful score - too many recordings of Lulu SOUND like Berg without necessarily being what Berg intended us to hear. A great feature of this film is that it concentrates on the Operatic action, not the orchestra & conductor.
The Glyndebourne recording is a little different. In total I was disappointed with its Cerha-completed version - sure, he sounds like Berg but is it what Berg would have written? I have my suspicions it probably isnt but as Ive made clear, Im a little prejudiced. Anyone can complete someone elses work - even I would have liked a crack at it but I dont think Berg would have approved!