This set, well-sung and characterized, handsomely played, and priced-to-sell, is sunk by its recording. Recorded live on stage in Stockholm, the voices are given preference, and while that arguably might be favorable (or not), the overall performance is recessed and lacks presence. (Barenboim’s live-from-Berlin set on Teldec occasionally tends to be orchestra-heavy, but it’s very exciting; to my ears an orchestral-virtuoso piece like this benefits from such imbalance.) Here there are many problems: not only does the action never quite seem urgent, but winds and brass are more forward than the strings and so the internal balance is off. Not even the huge Act 3 crescendos work; they’re muffled.
The performance itself is interesting, with few caricatures, and there’s far less craziness than usual: Wozzeck, portrayed through the mellifluous voice of Carl Johan Falkman, is all understated victim; the Captain, normally the most outgoing loon in the group, is almost normal-sounding (save for those weird, called-for falsetto moments) as sung by Ulrik Qvale; and the Doctor is made matter-of-factly nasty by Sten Wahlund. Katarina Dalayman’s Marie is good–well sung, moving, desperate; the Andres is weak (he’s shy of the high Cs in the tavern); the Drum Major is rightly bullying in the role that always manages to sound the same.
Leif Segerstam’s reading is intelligent and, well, easy-going–a bit too easy-going: the Sprechgesang pitches are approximate. In the end, this is hard to judge since it’s hard to hear; but you get the feeling that it’s a direct, unmelodramatic show that’s going on about a block away. I still fall for the Böhm/Fischer-Dieskau (on DG, not available at the moment), but lacking that, stick with the Barenboim, above, which thrills despite Waltraud Meier’s ugly Marie.
