Lulu for some time was an opera I just appreciated(same with Wozzeck) but overtime my appreciation has turned to love. Neither of them are easy operas to settle into at first, the music is expressionistic meaning atonal and angular melodies, the titular characters especially are tormented ones and the stories are very dark and often disturbing. However, although expressionistic music was not my thing for a while I do understand its importance in music and that Wozzeck and Lulu are two of the benchmarks of that particular style, and underneath the characters that can be difficult to empathise with and the disturbing subject matters both operas are very moving and atmospheric operas. And this is a most effective production of Lulu, the Teresa Stratas(Paris) and Julia Migenes-Johnson(Met) productions are just superior, but this is worth noting for the stage design(including concentric circular staging to emphasise Lulu's rise and fall, the staircase and the party atmosphere) and the demise of Lulu which is both shocking and poignant, exactly how it should be like. Musically it is just as great, Andrew Davies' conducting is sensitive but also dramatic and the orchestra with the violin and piano solos in Act 3 standing out play perfectly, Lulu has such a difficult score and they help make it more approachable in my opinion. Great performances too, outstanding in several cases. Not least Christine Schaefer, who excels as a singer(genuine colouratura helps) and as an actress(she sizzles with sexuality but the tormented side of Lulu comes across just as much). Norman Bailey is a wonderfully seedy Schigolch, and Kathryn Harris is perhaps the best of the four Countess Geschwitz's I've seen on DVD(I also saw 2002 Zurich's which was interesting especially for the characterisation of Lulu but not as consistent in terms of cast and stage ideas as the ones I'm recommending here). David Kuebler is very intriguing, I knew him best from Rossini and Mozart and he did very well singing one of the more challenging tenor lyric parts of any operas, naive and moving at the same time. Wolfgang Schone is a sinister Dr Schon/Jack the Ripper. All in all, a superb production. 9/10 Bethany Cox
