WAGNER Tristan und Isolde (Tristan und Isolde)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Genre:
Opera
Label: C Major
Magazine Review Date: 03/2020
Media Format: Digital Versatile Disc
Media Runtime: 239
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 752 208
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Tristan und Isolde |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Andreas Schager, Tristan, Tenor Andrew Rees, Melot, Tenor Brett Polegato, Kurwenal, Baritone Daniele Gatti, Conductor Gianfranco Montresor, Steersman, Baritone Gregory Bonfatti, Shepherd, Tenor John Relyea, Marke, Bass-baritone Michelle Breedt, Brangäne, Mezzo soprano Rachel Nicholls, Isolde, Soprano Rainer Trost, Young Sailor, Tenor Rome Opera Chorus Rome Opera Orchestra |
Author: Mike Ashman
German opera still seems slower following up its newcomers than its Italian counterpart (unless we’re talking Jonas Kaufmann). This show would have been better released four years ago when it was recorded and its leads, Austrian Andreas Schager and Brit Rachel Nicholls, were first making Wagnerian names for themselves. As it is, the mix of novelty and experience from the rest of the cast looks good on paper in combination with the Bayreuth achievements of maestro Gatti and the Amsterdam track record of stage director Pierre Audi.
Immediately there’s well-prepared singing and good coordination with the pit. Yet, at least in the first two acts, the results are surprisingly, yet dramatically, dull. I blame the rather subfusc designs of Christof Hetzer: costumes (sorry!) look like an attempt to recreate Wieland Wagner’s 1960s mock medieval out of quilt covers and anoraks. The minimal scenery of dirty metal-coloured walls and flats, or in Act 2 primitive curved standing stones, again suggest a deliberately non-Romanticised Middle Ages, perhaps also following a Wieland belief that there were genuine relics of Tristan’s life in Cornwall.
Then, in Act 3 due to a stroke of illogical but inspiriting directorial intervention, the cast all appear without wigs or hair-dressing. It’s as if a weight is lifted from their backs and Audi’s simple but emotionally telling directing carries the day in every moment. There are surprises too – not least for Brangäne, who dies from a Kurwenal sword-thrust just as the other ‘invaders’ of Tristan’s castle who appear with Marke. And that works too, contributing to the general heartbreak of the final moments.
The two main soloists are good here – they’re both wonderfully respectful of text and project their words clearly even when there’s a bit too much volume coming up from the pit (and hearing Tristan for once away from the aural defences of the Bayreuth pit is quite a shock). Polegato and Relyea have totally bought into the intentional minimalism of Audi’s direction and are the more moving for it; Breedt flaps around a bit too much but sounds fine.
Gatti has brought his orchestra up in the piece well. He’s lively and never self-indulgent but I think you can hear that this ensemble’s great Tristans are still to come. The filming is like reportage; we get the idea but there’s no special understanding of Audi’s and Hetzer’s work and certainly not of Jean Kalman’s lighting. So unless you’re carefully monitoring Wagnerian beginners, I would stick with tried small-screen favourites: Schneider and Marthaler (Opus Arte, 5/10) or Barenboim and Ponnelle (DG, 11/07) from Bayreuth, Barenboim and Chéreau from La Scala (Virgin/Erato).
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