This comes close to being a giant­killer among Wozzeck recordings; I have a few reservations but I admire this new version greatly and recommend it heartily. One of those reservations – a group of minor quibbles rather than a single major one – may be the fault of the stage director of this live performance rather than the artists themselves. It concerns characterisation: both the Captain and the Doctor are portrayed as rather more ‘normal’ than usual‚ the Captain a bit neurotic about his health‚ perhaps‚ the Doctor a humourless pedant but certainly not mad. Both singers are excellent‚ and some may well find the absence of caricature in these roles welcome. Their joint tormenting of Wozzeck is less malignant‚ more casually brutal than usual. His response is vehement‚ not hopeless; indeed throughout he gives an impression of suppressed violence and is thus less of a doomed victim than we are used to. Carl­Johan Falkman’s singing of the role is‚ however‚ remarkable – few Wozzecks are as frightening as he is in the scene after the murder. A more serious reservation involves orchestral balance. Leif Segerstam’s handling of the score is admirably pointed and flexible‚ but his string players are either a bit under strength or rather out of focus. Wind instruments dominate the great final interlude‚ the eloquence of strings is at times disappointingly understated and when full strings return after the chamber scoring of Act 2 scene 3‚ they do not sound as ample as they should. In scenes involving Sprechstimme adherence to the written pitches is at times very free. At the beginning of Act 3‚ where Marie’s vocal line is so obviously part of a beautifully worked set of variations‚ Katarina Dalayman is obviously longing to sing precise pitches‚ and before long she does so. Hers is the finest performance here‚ vehement and characterful but beautifully sung: when Wozzeck gives her money after her capitulation to the Drum Major her guilt­ridden suppressed sob on ‘God bless you‚ Franz!’ is very moving. Hildegard Behrens did exactly the same thing in Claudio Abbado’s DG recording (also live)‚ and with both artists it sounds spontaneous‚ not calculated. In Abbado’s version the voices are at times recessed – advantage as well as disadvantage: there is no lack of ample string tone in his reading – but their characters are often a degree more sharply etched than by Segerstam’s cast‚ and their Sprechstimme is usually closer to singing than speech; despite Berg’s ambiguous instructions I am sure that this is right. Abbado’s Wozzeck‚ Franz Grundheber‚ finds rather more pathos in the role than Falkman. Abbado would still be my first recommendation‚ but I cannot imagine anyone who loves this opera being disappointed by this newcomer; at its price the phrase ‘super bargain’ hardly does justice to it.