zimmerman article

[lennygoran]

Sorry I missed his die soldaten-don't know any of his other music. Len

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/arts ... collection

[John F]

You wouldn't like it. The story of "Die Soldaten" is somewhat like "Wozzeck," but Zimmermann's musical style makes Berg sound like Puccini. The production at the Armory was quite something to see and indeed part of - the audience was moved back and forth on rails for different scenes - but the acoustics, with amplification, made the music hard to listen to - even harder than Zimmermann made it in the first place.

New York City Opera staged it in 1991 with a very strong and numerous cast including the amazing Lisa Saffer as Marie. Its effect was even stronger than the Armory show. The NY Times review was above their usual standard - Edward Rothstein was one of their few staff reviewers equal to this task:

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/10/arts ... daten.html

I still remember some images of that production, though none of the music. Though I've owned the Cologne Opera recording for many years, I've never listened to it all the way through.

[lennygoran]

John thanks-makes berg sound like puccini-0y! Len

[maestrob]

I remember that production, and the review you posted (thanks, John) brought back memories. I remember that we managed to sit through the opera, but the music was so dissonant that I swore off modern opera for a while. Ugly is a weak word compared to what I thought of the piece, and I would not see it again.