I went to the final performance of the revival of Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House. I shan’t attempt to review the performance here, but reviews are available online: e.g. the Guardian‘s or the Observer‘s.
As I saw the opera only last year I hesitated about going but in the end the pull of the music was just too strong. I didn’t experience diminishing returns, and each performance brings out different details – I can’t take them all in in any one hearing. There isn’t after all necessarily anything unusual or undesirable in hearing the same string quartet (for example) in two different concerts close together, and since the greater part of Berg’s music is contained in his two operas, you can’t really get to know it properly at first hand without going to them.
Fortunately a Berg habit need not be expensive and as I settled into row C of the stalls I reflected that it would have cost me several times as much to see an opera by Wagner from the same seat, thanks in part to an online offer which I discovered when I came to buy my ticket. Row C is a little further forward than ideal and I found a couple of heads between me and parts of the stage. On the other hand, another head I had a good view of the back of was that of the conductor, Daniel Harding. I’m not among those who have no interest in seeing conductor or orchestra during an opera, or who feel that to do so breaks the theatrical illusion. Particularly in a work where the orchestra carries so much of the drama.