"A five-hour-long
continuous sexual intercourse",
as director Ingmar Bergman once memorably
described Tristan und Isolde.
In this case the front of the box reprints
the original LP cover with Tristan and
Isolde symbolically entangled in an
eternal kiss, hinting at something more.
Leonard Bernstein’s treatment of the
score seems to suggest that he has a
similar view. Under his direction it
is an even longer affair than usual.
As far as I have been able to find,
this must be the longest version on
disc. At 266 minutes’ playing time it
is more than 10 minutes slower than
Furtwängler’s 1952 recording (now
on Naxos), 20 minutes slower than Karajan
and 30 minutes slower than Carlos Kleiber,
Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemann,
who all clock in at 235 minutes, which
seems to be something like a middle-of-the-road
Tristan. At the other extreme
we have the Böhm version, live
from Bayreuth 1966, which runs through
the emotions in 219 minutes, i.e. finishing
more than ¾ of an hour faster than Bernstein.
Oh yes, Segerstam on the recent Stockholm
recording on Naxos, takes only 213,
but then he makes a substantial cut
in the second act, something that I
failed to mention in my review,
and with that cut reinstated he would
be slightly slower than Böhm. Böhm’s
recording has always been held in high
esteem by critics and opera lovers,
but so has Furtwängler’s, so speed
differences in themselves are not crucial
when it comes to getting to the core
of a musical work.
Leaving direct comparisons
out of account – a fascinating but time-consuming
occupation – but still keeping these
basic facts in mind, it is obvious from
the first bars that this is going to
be a deeply involved, very idiosyncratic
reading. Having heard and seen him digging
into a Mahler symphony with his one-hundred-per-cent
identification and heart-on-the-sleeve
emotions, one knows what to expect.
In this of all works he grabs every
opportunity to wring every drop of emotion
from the music. This also means that
never before or after did the waves
of the Atlantic swell higher and wilder
in the first act, mirroring the fact
that never before or after did the blood
in the two lovers’ veins boil more ferociously
in the second. And the glorious Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra willingly respond
to the maestro’s wishes, which also
has a reverse side, implying that at
the most ecstatic moments the soloists
tend to be drowned, especially since
recording balance slightly favours the
orchestra. After all, this is Bernstein’s
Tristan, not Behrens’ or Hofmann’s.
And it is Hofmann who most often gets
the worst of it; Behrens with her shining
top notes more easily penetrates the
orchestral fabric. But this almost larger-than-life
approach is just one side of the coin;
more often than not Bernstein is very
restrained – although it is a restrained
intensity – and then he goes very slooow
indeeed. Central scenes – the extended
love scenes with the two protagonists
– are highlighted almost cinematically,
in slow motion. O sink hernieder
(CD3 track 1) is instructive. Here we
are already halfway into the great second
act love duet when, in Wagner’s own
words, "Tristan draws Isolde gently
down on to a flowery bank". It
starts inward, hushed, with Isolde’s
voice blending beautifully with the
woodwind and with Tristan at c. 2:20
singing more sensitively than ever before
with a more rounded tone. Then there
is a build-up from c. 2:30 to the climax
at 2:51 – perfectly judged. Just as
is the next eruption at c. 5:15, and
then at 6:00, just before Brangäne’s
distant Einsam wachend, we are
again down to a near whisper. My note
pad is literally littered with comments
like this, but don’t let me tire you
out, get the discs and find out for
yourselves. You will be in for a voyage
of exploration that will last for hours
and hours. Sometimes everything becomes
almost unbearably slow, but Bernstein
always manages to keep the tension boiling.
At the end of the voyage one has no
feeling of having spent more time on
board than on an every-day trip Ireland
– Cornwall – Brittany.
When I reviewed Glen
Cortese’s live Tristan from Sofia
earlier this year ( see
review) I mentioned his admirable
handling of the many pages of the score
where Wagner reduces the orchestra to
very intimate dimensions and Bernstein
at sometimes considerably slower speeds
is just as apt at exposing the chamber
music qualities of the scoring. The
prelude to Act 3 (CD3 track 7) is another
deeply considered reading, moving breathlessly
from the ominous dark chords at the
start, dominated by the double basses,
to the ethereal high violins and then
over to the Shepherd’s English horn
solo, beautifully played by Marie-Lise
Schüpbach.
Over all, such is the
intensity of the enterprise that I wasn’t
able to play the whole drama through
at one sitting, but even with substantial
intervals I had the feeling that Bernstein
builds the music in one long span, from
the inaudible start of the first act
prelude until the music ebbs out at
the end of Isolde’s Liebestod.
And there we are, as it were, back at
the beginning of this eternally fascinating
masterpiece.
So even before mentioning
the soloists I would urge readers who
don’t already own this version to snap
it up, now it is released at mid-price.
Someone called the opera – no, the music
drama – a symphony in three movements
with obbligato voices, but the voices
are important and there are few
roles in all opera that are more taxing
than the two protagonists’. Somewhere
back in 1980, I presume – the booklet
gives no dates or venues but a photo
from 1980 shows Bernstein together with
Behrens and Hofmann – Philips gathered
some of the best Wagner voices of the
day for this recording and generally
they are excellent. The very first voice
we hear, the young sailor, is a very
lyrical Thomas Moser, who gradually
adopted heavier roles and today is a
noted Tristan himself, singing the part
on Christian Thielemann’s live DG recording,
released just a year ago. Singers of
the calibre of Heribert Steinbach, Raimund
Grumbach and Heinz Zednik do good jobs
too.
Bernd Weikl is a notable
Wagnerian: Beckmesser on Solti’s first
Meistersinger and then advancing
to Hans Sachs for the recommendable
Sawallisch version. Here he is a characterful
Kurwenal, singing gloriously and, in
the last act especially, with deep involvement.
Just listen to Bist du nun tot
(CD4 track 3). He is on a par with the
best exponents of this role on record,
Fischer-Dieskau (for Furtwängler)
and Eberhard Wächter (for Böhm).
Even more impressive
is Hans Sotin as King Marke. "After
deep shock, with a trembling voice"
reads Wagner’s instruction for his entrance,
and Sotin’s warm voice obeys this to
perfection: Tatest du’s wirklich
(CD3 track 5). Da kinderlos einst
schwand sein Weib further on in
his long monologue, is filled with deep
sorrow and Sotin actually sings the
whole scene with a Lieder-singer’s care
for words and inflection. Nearer the
end he is dramatically intense at Unseliger,
dort nun mich verwunden and the
last few lines, verging on self-pity,
are still sung with dignity. His is
not the blackest of bass voices but
he, too, is certainly among the best
– and I have not forgotten Talvela,
Moll and Salminen.
Yvonne Minton, the
only non-German member of the cast,
was for some years one of the best mezzo-sopranos.
Her Octavian in Solti’s Rosenkavalier
was a dream. Here, more than ten years
on, she has moved into heavier territory
and the voice is just as beautiful and
secure. But there is also a certain
coolness and although the voice rings
out with admirable power when needed,
she doesn’t sound as involved as the
others. Few other singers have sung
the part so beautifully, though.
Coming to the two protagonists
there have to be some reservations.
Hildegard Behrens rather early in her
illustrious career is well-nigh ideal
as Isolde: deeply involved, sorrowful,
uproarious, ecstatic and with a lyrical
beauty that can leave you breathless.
Try her in the big first act scene with
Brangäne (CD1 track 6) Wie lachend
sie mir Lieder singen. There is
such youthful warmth that even Nilsson,
for all her steely security and power,
is partly overshadowed: even her 1959
excerpt with Knappertsbusch. Further
on she is jubilant at mit ihr gab
er es preis and she is deeply moving
in Mild und leise (CD4 track
8). The many facets of this part are
wonderfully realized and the sense of
vulnerability she conveys makes Isolde
a woman of flesh and blood, not just
an icon. There also seems to be a special
rapport between her and Bernstein who,
as it were, carries her through the
music. Against all this it can’t be
denied that she is not ideally steady
and her vibrato occasionally spreads
too much to be wholly agreeable. But
make no mistake – the buzz-word here
is occasionally. For most of
the time she is the Isolde of one’s
dreams. I have yet to hear Nina Stemme’s
recording complete, but the snippets
I have listened to indicate that she
might be the real "dream-Isolde"
and reviews have hinted in that direction
too.
The reservations become
more serious when we come to assess
Peter Hofmann’s assumption of Tristan.
This is of course a notoriously difficult
role and, especially in the theatre,
almost impossible to manage perfectly.
The exception was Melchior, whose interpretation
luckily is preserved on several live
recordings, but Birgit Nilsson once
at the MET consumed three Tristans in
one performance, one for each act. Hofmann’s
voice at this stage was already affected
by a hardness of tone and an un-beautiful
vibrato when under pressure, which Tristan
often is, since Wagner wasn’t always
very considerate to his singers and
with Bernstein sometimes challenging
the heavy metal bands for volume he
has a hard time. Unlike some Tristans,
though, he still sings his part, heroically
and musically, without resorting to
barking. And just as Behrens he is a
sensitive singer, obeying the dynamic
markings by the composer, obeying Bernstein’s
wishes. And at crucial moments, like
the already mentioned O sink hernieder
he regains the beauty of tone he once
stunned the operatic world with in more
lyrical parts, just as he can be immensely
moving a little later in the duet (CD3
track 3): So stürben wir.
The third act, which is the real Everest
for every tenor with Tristan aspirations,
finds him heroic and impassioned, reaching
tragic heights on CD4 track 2 at c.
5:20. In the last resort I have to admit
that Hofmann won me over. Like Behrens
he also creates a real character of
Tristan and a warrior can’t be expected
to have too beautiful a voice, can he?
Böhm, also at
mid-price and on only 3 CDs, is still
a highly recommendable alternative,
with Nilsson, Christa Ludwig, Windgassen,
Wächter and Talvela on top form,
but Bernstein, giving us a ride in quite
different waters, is also an unforgettable
experience. The digital recording, supervised
if I am not mistaken, by Eric Smith,
is top-drawer, a few extraneous noises
apart. The booklet has a tracklist and
the libretto in three languages – but
no notes.
Enthusiastically recommended!
Göran Forsling
Chor und Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen
Rundfunks/Leonard Bernstein 
