DVD
REVIEW
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Tristan & Isolde
Tristan, Jon Frederic West
Isolde, Waltraud Meier
King Mark, Kurt Moll
Kurwenal, Bernd Weikl
Brangane, Marjana Lipovsek
Chorus of the Bayerische
Staatsoper Bayerisches Staatsorchester, conducted by Zubin Mehta
Arthaus Musik DVD 100056
Full Price,
playing time: 241 minutes (2
discs)
Crotchet
Amazon
UK around £30
This is one of several DVDs sampled which relate to operas reviewed by
S&H. The Munich Tristan is enthralling in its innovative, always
interesting production and remarkable for the quality of acting and photography.
It is also the most recent, the Aida & Elektra DVDs coming from productions
of a decade or so ago. I found the Milan Aida with Pavarotti stilted and
unengaging, and by no means as thought provoking as was the WNO production
seen in Oxford. The Vienna Elektra, as recorded in the dry acoustic of the
rebuilt opera house, seemed on TV over-acted in a restless, jerky manner
which compared unfavourably with the truly memorable, far more austere, yet
visually compelling Stuttgart production.
Peter Konwitschny's Tristan is something quite other. His interpretation
for the stage is positive and optimistic, with a surprising, open ended
conclusion, with a secret best left as a surprise. He sees the drama as one
between power and possessions or human closeness and warmth. The final song
(it was not Wagner who called it the 'Lieberstod) becomes a jubilant song
of life. For television and this DVD it was directed by Brian Large with
exactly the right choices of camera shots; these singers had learned to convey
their emotions for the camera without over-acting, and I suspect that the
audiences in the theatre did not feel short-changed either.
There are marvellous ideas on the way, several which provoke uproarious laughter
at their outrageous daring. Because the shock effect is brief, one soon settles
again to the underlying seriousness of the story and the impassioned and
tortured feelings the protagonists live through. The opera opens on board
ship, of course, but what a ship! And a solution for the familiar problem
of how to dispose the lovers on stage for their long Act 2 duet is found
with a hilarious coup do theatre, a moment never to be forgotten; it too
quite quickly comes to seem extremely sensible, and convenient also, for
the reflections which precede the violent finish.
For me, Marjana Lipovsek as Brangane captured attention from the very start
with her subtle, understated responses to the intrusive 'young sailor' in
a new guise and to Isolde's narration. Soon one realises that Waltraud Meier
is reflecting in her face and gestures every word and passing thought - her
beauty and intelligence seizes and holds attention in a way that some may
find distracts from full attention to the music; but one can always play
it again, and I was left wanting to do so. The voice is beautiful and her
stamina in live performance untiring. Jon Fredric West was less convincing
in loving passion than in surly defiance at the start, and anguish and feverish
delirium in the last act, which he sustains without flagging. The DVD would
be worth acquiring just for Kurt Moll's assumption of the betrayed elderly
King Marke, who arrives at the point of acceptance and reconciliation just
too late; marvellously expressive singing and equally marvellouscharacterisation,
making his lengthy narrations pass without longeur.
This oblique commentary about the production deliberately avoids giving away
too much, as one would reviewing a 'who dunnit'. Having seen only few, I
would guess that this Tristan & Isolde represents a coming-of-age of
opera on DVD. It offers crystal-clear vision and sumptuous, rich yet well
differentiated orchestral floods of tone under Zubin Mehta's direction. A
colleague who is a far more Perfect a Wagnerian than I has admired the
interpretation, but found it easier to take in without watching all the time.
I certainly felt that there was no musical compromise and that it would be
rewarding too to listen to it one time with a score instead of seeing the
action.
Peter Grahame Woolf
see also review by Marc Bridle
