the words weren't mine

It seems hard to believe that Berg’s Wozzeck was premiered 100 years ago on the 14^th of December 1925.  It sounds and feels as contemporaneously lifelike and terrifying in today’s world, both musically and psychologically, as though it were a confrontationally new landmark in our own time right here and now.  Can one try and imagine its impact at the Berlin State Opera at its premiere?!  Well, one of the exclusive interviews in this Hampsong Foundation Wozzeck Centenary Celebration tells us about that from first-hand experience.  In 1995, the 92 year old composer and conductor Berthold Goldschmidt recalled to Jon Tolansky, the compiler and producer of this project, the opening night, in which he was playing the celeste when the conductor Erich Kleiber was at the helm. read more

IMAGE: Paul Nougé