Klarinet Archive - Posting 000910.txt from 1997/10

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: Lulu
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 13:04:19 -0400

Lulu

That's the name of an opera by Alban Berg. Based on Wedekind's "Lulu
Tragedy".
A tragedy about the fate of women being used by men and they themselves
using men. It's not a happy subject
Not enough that the music is a little hairy, one of the characters in
the opera is none other than that of Jack the Ripper, a maniacal
prostitute murderer at the end of the last century in East London
England.

The music of Alban Berg is not that easy to go around singing.
It's all in the 12 tone series. It gives a feeling of eeriness just to
play it, let alone the subject it portrays.

The score is not easy. Fortunately we had Walter Susskind, to lead us in
this work.
It was the suite from the Opera. It was performed at a regular concert
of the Toronto Symphony.
For this type of work, he was the greatest.
Had a lot of patience at rehearsals, never lost his cool under the
constant questioning of this or that.

To make the score more realistic, they brought in an actress to utter a
shrill SCREAM
in the goriest part of the suite.
The rehearsals went OK. The SCREAM was there. A professional SCREAMER
!

Came the performance, we play and play until it came to the "SCREAM"
part.

So what comes out?

eee, eegh eeeeegh, and a croaky scream.

A scream? It was a LULU of a scream.

Avrahm Galper

   
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