MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


DVD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Richard WAGNER (1813–1883)
Tristan und Isolde (1865)
Richard Decker (tenor) – Tristan; Marek Wojciechowski (bass) – King Marke; Iordanka Derilova (soprano) – Isolde; Ulf Paulsen (baritone) – Kurwenal; Kostadin Arguirov (tenor) – Melot; Alexandra Petersamer (mezzo) – Brangäne; Jörg Brücker (tenor) – A Shepherd / A Young Sailor; Nico Wouterse (baritone) – A Helmsman; Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau, Male Chorus and supernumeraries of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau/Golo Berg
Stage Director: Johannes Felsenstein; Set and Costume Design: Stefan Rieckhoff; Dramaturgy: Susanne Schulz; Directed for Television and Video by Brooks Riley
rec. live, Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, 2007
Sound format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1; Picture format: 16:9
ARTHAUS MUSIC 101325 [2 DVDs: 224:00]

 

Experience Classicsonline


Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau is a multi-venue for theatre, music theatre (opera, operetta and musical) as well as ballet and even puppet theatre. They also give a number of orchestral concerts. Theatre life in Dessau has a long history, having a permanent ensemble as early as 1794. The present building was inaugurated in 1938 and with its 1,250 seats was regarded as the largest north of the Alps. Towards the end of WW2 it was bombed and practically totally destroyed but it was rebuilt and opened again in 1949. Until 1994 it was known as Landestheater Dessau. The theatre has a small ensemble to which is added guests at most productions. At the production of Tristan und Isolde from last year, to be seen on these DVDs, Kurwenal, Melot and the Helmsman are permanent members, but the impressive Bulgarian soprano Iordanka Derilova, who takes the testing role of Isolde, also belongs to the house.

The performance starts in silence with the titles only, clean in white against black, and gradually the soft opening of the prelude is heard. The curtain rises and we are exposed to a beautiful seascape, alternating with close-ups of Tristan and Isolde. They come closer to each other, moving in circles until, at the climax, they are standing face to face. Then, after a while, when the prelude decreases in intensity, they walk slowly in different directions.

After a while it turns out that, viewed from the audience, from where also much of the performance is being filmed, there is a revolving stage in the foreground with the orchestra behind the stage, partly visible. This reminds me of the Hartmut Haenchen/Pierre Audi Ring cycle in Amsterdam, where the orchestra was in a central position and the characters moved around the pit. The Dessau solution is not revolutionary in the same way and probably the theatre is constructed this way. Occasional glimpses of the orchestra and – primarily – the waving arms of conductor Golo Berg called this layout to mind every now and then. I can’t say that it disturbed me very much – and it could also be seen as a Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt. Behind the orchestra there is a wide screen with projections to enhance the rather sparse sets – often very evocatively.

The revolving stage is diligently employed and without being sensational in any way the production highlights the central conflicts of the drama. For better or worse a heavy workload falls on the leading roles to characterise the emotions and the outcome of this is a bit ambivalent in the case of the love-couple. Iordanka Derilova’s Isolde is intense, hot-tempered and acts with sometimes histrionically exaggerated gestures and poses; Richard Decker, on the other hand, is a recessed Tristan, rather awkward at times and there is very little glow in his approach – neither scenically nor vocally. Considering Tristan’s merits in sundry respects he is portrayed here as a rather dull person.  But the approach is not wholly negative or misleading. There is undeniable warmth in the reading, in the second act Decker is not exactly fiery but at least one can feel sympathy for him and it seems that he is still drugged from Brangäne’s love-potion, whereas the effect on Isolde is of the utmost infatuation and sexual activity. She mounts a passive Tristan. In the third act you can’t expect a mortally wounded warrior to be very powerful and here his recessed acting and singing is an asset. Interestingly, though, and paradoxically, he also finds the glow, the shine one wants from a great Tristan. When I saw him as Samson in Stockholm a few months ago I commented on his steely top register while in the middle register he was a bit dry. I can fully understand, though, that to be able to manage the last act of Tristan und Isolde the tenor has to economize on the vocal resources during the previous two. In the last resort Decker’s Tristan wins on points while Iordanka Derilova’s dynamite packet of Isolde goes for KO from the beginning. She is also vocally attractive. She doesn’t have the laser-beam high notes of a Birgit Nilsson nor the creamy beauty of Nina Stemme but the intensity of her acting is well matched by her singing and her Liebestod is certainly impressive.

Alexandra Petersamer is a Brangäne to match this fiery Isolde – they are not unlike each other in vocal timbre – and Ulf Paulsen is a powerful Kurwenal. In King Marke’s long monologue Marek Wojciechowski emerges as a noble and dignified character and the scene is a vocal high-spot. The supporting singers are all well in the picture and Golo Berg conducts with obvious affection for the score.

Readers who already own Barenboim’s Bayreuth set (see review) or Jiří Bĕlohlávek’s Glyndebourne set (see review), which, as I wrote in the former review, are more complementary than competing, may not feel enticed by this ‘provincial’ production with largely unknown singers. I feel a bit ashamed that my expectations were so low when I started watching but it turned out to be a very likeable performance. Big names in themselves are no sure-fire guarantee for success (though the two sets mentioned above certainly are) and this Dessau production proves that also ‘minor’ companies can produce excellent things.

Göran Forsling 

 





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.