Customer Reviews

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

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This review will be short, I'm afraid, largely because this new 'Tristan und Isolde' from the Swedish Royal Opera is not particularly competitive with other 'Tristans' out there. Its primary advantage is its price, but there are historical recordings (Furtw'ängler on EMI, say) that can very nearly match it for price. One cannot find much fault with Leif Segerstam's direction; he is a seasoned Wagnerian and a marvelous musician. His orchestra lets him down, though, particularly in the string section which sounds lightweight. The brasses are magnificent, though. I would have to say that Segerstam's approach is, unusually for him, a little lukewarm, or perhaps cautious is a better word.

As for the soloists, one only wishes Isolde, here sung by mezzo Hedwig Fassbender, had been the soprano who initially sang this role in this new production last year in Stockholm, Nina Stemme. One hears wonderful things about her. Alas, that was not to be. One does wonder why, as the rest of the cast is that of the 2004 production. The Tristan is Wolfgang Millgram and his is a rather colorless interpretation. One senses that he is probably saving his energies for the taxing delirium required in Act III because he does deliver there. The Kurwenal of Gunnar Lundberg is dramatic but not particularly pleasing to the ear. Even more so is the vocal unsteadingess of the Brang'äne, Martina Dike. It doesn't help that the recorded sound puts the voices front and center. Even the Steuermann whose 'Westwä'rts schweift der Blick' opens the opera, and should be heard as from a distance, is front and center. Lennart Fors'én's Kö'nig Marke is forthright and effective, if his voice lacks the depth and ebony shading often heard in the role. The men of the Royal Opera chorus are superb.

The booklet contains no libretto although one can obtain it at www.naxos.com/libretti/tristan.htm for download as a pdf file. There is some advantage in that each of the three acts is contained on a single CD so that the music does not have to be interrupted.

Scott Morrison

This review is for the classical music CD set of the complete opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. This set consist of 3 CD's and was released in 2006 by Naxos. Leif Segerstam conducts the Royal Swedish Opera and Orchestra.

Naxos, in my estimation, is the gold standard in CD package design and disk documentation. The front insert cover art reproduction, type fonts and type colors all contribute to ease of product identification. The back insert provides summarized disk information: tracks, total time and acts. A 12-page booklet included with this set is extremely useful. In addition to a detailed track listing it contains a synopsis of the opera. The events of each act and scene are described and keyed to the appropriate CD and track. As a first time listener to the entire opera I found this very useful. The sung text is not provided but on page 1 of the booklet Naxos provided a link where a PDF file can be downloaded.

The three CD's come packaged in a large jewel box with individual cradles for each disk. This packaging is somewhat bulky but stand up nicely on a shelf and will take a lot of punishment without any damage to the disk. In addition the sturdy box makes a nice shipping container- if you ever were to part with these disks!


I am not a musician or musical scholar. I do enjoy listening to classical music and I have developed an interest in opera. From my first introduction to classical music I have been a fan of Wagner - even if at first I didn't know whom the composer was, I was mesmerized by the overpowering themes contained in his music.

The quality of the recordings; the bargain price and the Naxos packaging make this set well worth acquiring by the classical music enthusiast.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde is a recording under the direction of Leif Segerstam who leads the Royal Swedish Opera Male Chorus and Orchestra on this Naxos recording from 2004. Keith Anderson has written a short yet well-written and informative essay entitled "Tristan und Isolde". It also contains a short synopsis by the same writer. One also gets short biographies of the performers. Recommended. 4/5.