The Guardian
Royal Festival Hall, London The London Philharmonic under Edward Gardner combined with video art by Ilya Shagalov that was riveting and, in places, not for the squeamish Nobody ever came out of a performance of Wozzeck thinking that what it really needed was an extra layer to make it even more harrowing. Caution against excess, however, is not a feature of the Southbank’s Multitudes festival – gloriously so. Searing playing and singing from the London Philharmonic and a first-rate cast, conducted by Edward Gardner, combined here with Ilya Shagalov’s video art, co-created with Nina Guseva, to make Berg’s opera yet more adrenaline-inducing than ever. Shagalov’s film, on a big screen behind the players, told Wozzeck’s story in thousands of still photos. The time was today, the place a grey city, and Wozzeck part of the invisible workforce hidden by their hi-vis vests. With a translation of the sung German at the bottom, the images sped by or turned over more slowly, always as stills – except only for the moment after Marie’s murder, when the orchestra joined in a terrifying crescendo on a single note. Then, and only then, did we see Wozzeck’s face moving, and the effect was as spine-chilling as it was brief. Continue reading...
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