"John R. Sisk" wrote:

>I feel the finest available recording of Wozzeck is Karl Bohm's, featuring
>Fishcer-Dieskau & Wunderlich, which recording also has the bonus of being
>coupled with a complete recording of Lulu as well.  It's available on
>Deutsche Gramophon, but only as a US import or in the UK. Since few
>people seem to know about this recording, I thought I'd throw in my two
>metaphorical shillings.

It used to be one of the best known recordings - or maybe just because
at that time, there were very few others.  I second your recommendation,
although I find DFD a bit too elegant and educated in this role.

Wozzeck/Woyzeck, after all, was a simple, uneducated man, driven to crime
by the cruelty of the world surrounding him and unable to channel his
emotions elsewhere.  (We would say nowadays that he was under severe
stress.) DFD, as much as I adore him, is not capable of incarnating all
the roles he performs: he just can't play a real simpleton.

Boulez's recording with Walter Berry as Wozzeck is excellent.  I would
say that the orchestral part sounds better under Boulez than under Bohm,
and Berry is a more convincing Wozzeck.

-Margaret Mikulska