Customer Reviews

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde / Mehta, West, Meier, National Theatre Munich

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

There is so much to hate about this insipid production that it is easy to miss what's good about it. Namely, Waltraud Meier. But this great singing actress's fascinating voice and spectacular cheekbones are completely lost in the nonsense of this production. This is an anti-production, which means that just about any concept you can imagine on the stage would be better than this.

The first act opens on the deck of a wacky post-postmodern yacht complete with lounge chairs and cocktails (in frosted glasses with straws -- these will later be used to foist the love potion upon us). Think Miro's drunken nightmare of sad-clown velvet paintings. Isolde's costume couldn't be more distracting. It is supposed to be a wedding dress. This shabby schmatta hangs like a thrift shop special, unaccountably decorated with what appear to be hot-pink felt hearts glued haphazardly to dirty sleeves. But even all this is overcome by Meier's miraculously ferocious singing. As Tristan, on the other hand, West can't sing to save his soul. He plays the knight as a big blustery fratboy as he barks out the music, so strained in some places that one fears for his heart. Until he drinks the potion, he seems to believe that he's about to get lucky. To make matters worse, half his face is covered with shaving cream for most of the act (we are supposed to imagine that Isolde has inconsiderately interrupted his toilette).

The second act begins with more promise, on a big purple and green set with Isolde much more handsomely dressed. A big yellow sofa splotched with more pink hearts noisily appears, however, only to be thrown upside down by the now seriously stressed tenor. It's hard to describe how bad he is. Moreover, when the two start to get busy, climbing all over the couch, he takes off her gown to reveal the absurd 1st act wedding dress again!

The third act sports what the cover calls an "optimistic" ending (!?!?!?!). Meier's passionate Liebestod is marred by a still living Tristan stupidly grinning as she sings it. The last tableau, after they have wandered blissfully off the stage, of two white coffins, comes off as a senseless nod to the meaning of the text.

Marjana Lipovska, as Brangaene, is good actress, but her voice is strained. Kurt Moll's King Mark is stolid and predictable. Weikl is way beyond his prime, and his Kurvenal falls apart shortly after he opens his mouth in the first act.

The good news is, we probably won't have to endure long in a world where this is the only DVD of Tristan. The Met's great recent production with Ben Heppner and Jane Eglan has become available on DVD. Hallelujah.

I'm one of those operalovers who's able to disregard props and sets and costumes that don't accord with my ideal vision of the opera. I rolled my eyes at the frosted tropical-cocktail glasses (straws! decorative fruit!) but I was able to get past them. When you have first-rate performers in a production like this, they make the staging and costumes work for them: the ideas come across much better than you'd expect.

And by "first-rate" I refer in the mildest, most neutral, qualitative terms to Meier's brilliantly calibrated (both vocally and emotionally) performance. In my book, she's simply the most complete Isolde ever. Flagstad, too placid temperamentally but plenty of voice, of course. Nilsson, plenty of voice but she can't really convey the tenderer moments of the character, like "Er sah mir in die Augen, sein Elend jammerte mich" etc.. Margaret Price, Martha Mödl, Helga Dernesch, all present facets of Isolde's character but Watraud Meier offers a really encyclopedic Isolde. Ever glance, every gesture, every shade of expression, illumines the character she's singing.

And the singing!!! The whole first act is just magnificent!! Imagine Eaglen or Voigt throwing themselves into Isolde's bitterness and anger to the extent Meier does! That kind of ferocity is just not in their arsenal! Meier is completely in control yet her impassioned outbursts are unhinged, frightening in their intensity. To see her shift gears and fall in love with Tristan so convincingly and with such melting singing is just a hint of the marvels to come in the later acts.

I'm not a big fan of close-ups of singers when their singing strenuously but when the singer's apparatus is as fascinating to look at as Waltraud Meier's, I'm a convert!! I love seeing her really unhinge her jaw and deliver that thrilling focussed sound of hers. And nowhere does she show the slightest signs of strain. She remains ravishingly beautiful, an ecstatic priestess one moment, the next a wounded bird of prey, the next a young girl falling in love, and all sung with such grandeur and such vividly pronounced words. I can scarcely believe this astonishing performance can be contained on two little silver disks. They seem such a mundane pair of objects to hold such a volcanic and magisterial Isolde.

Jon Frederic West is sorely tested by Act III (and who wouldn't be?) and Bernd Weikl can only bark Kurwenal's music. Marjana Lipovsek does surprising well with her ungainly voice until she gets to "Einsam wachend..." where she just doesn't have the technique that would allow her to phrase musically. Kurt Moll makes a sumptuous Marke but doesn't quite tell the story as rivetingly as René Pape but this is Waltraud Meier's show and one well worth watching.

My first reaction to viewing this remains the same: "Wow!"

Some will immediately be put off by Peter Konwitschny's production, but if you give it a chance, it works as complete musical theatre. (A few touches could've been left out, e.g., Tristan's face half covered in shaving cream for most of Act I.)

Act I finds Isolde and Brangane on the deck of a faux post-modernish luxury liner, Isolde distraught in a wedding gown and veil, Brangane reclining on a yellow and white chaise lounge sipping cocktails from frosted glass with a crazy straw. Somehow, it all makes sense.

Waltraud Meier is an Isolde of such intensity that I doubt the role has ever been more completely "felt" by any singer. We know this singer has some strain at the top of her voice yet, here, it serves to match the expressivity and intensity of her face and action. Thus, we are treated to an Isolde of such sensuality and grief, one who's entire body registers every note of rage, despair, revenge and longing. When

One of my favorite few seconds in all of opera is the closing of Act I from the moment Kurwenal belts out "Heil, Tristan" and the sailors are "heil"ing all over the place. Bernd Weikl's Kurwenal makes this moment one of the most magical musical highlights of this production. As Tristan and Isolde are separated, Tristan marches on to meet his King, as Brangane pushes her Mistress on, Meier's arm raises to shield her eyes from the vision of her new life. Musically and visually this is tremendous.

Jon Frederic West has some tough moments as Tristan, more often than not we find him barking and at times he looks and sounds like he's going to explode. Nonetheless, he gets most of the notes and at times, especially in the Act II Liebesnacht can sound lovely.

Act II is staged in a modernist rendition of a forest to which Tristan drags a bright yellow, flowered sofa(!) where most of the Liebesnacht is sung, each lover holding a burning candle in the palm of their hand. Some of the most beautifully sung music occurs here as Brangane sings her watch/warning. Marjana Lipovsek, who sounded a little strained in Act I, here is mindboggingly radiant as she pulls votive candles from her robe, lighting one from another and setting them about the stage. At the climax of the duet, Konwitschny has every stage light and house light come on in less time than it takes to blink and we realize the stage is filled with Marke's soldiers and the scheming Melot. It is an audible gasp inducing moment of theatre.

As Marke, Kurt Moll's famous resonant bass is breathtakingly secure, still firm and the man knows how to command a stage like few others. That voice is a miracle of sound combining power and beauty.

Act III is magnificently staged and acted, once you get past the dirty room, with a dirty white radiator, and large dirty French windows. We find Tristan slumped in an arm chair - everyone's entrances are made through a back door. Brangane appears at the window, but the loyal Kurwenal bars her entrance by locking the windows as soldiers come in and at the height of the musical frenzy Brangane violently smashes the windows and climbs into the room. Tristan and Isolde have fled the stage down the ever present central steps leading to a level below a false proscenium. Here they remain each on opposite sides of the stage as they slowly, despite the imploring of Marke and Brangane, pull the stage curtain closed, closing themselves off from the rest of the world. In front of the curtain, Meier begins perhaps the slowest Liebestode, maintaining the line impressively and builds it into an ecstatic, transcendent experience that mere words cannot begin to do justice to. The camera remains fixed on that glowing, expressive face and I felt as though Isolde was singing to me alone. At its conclusion Tristan and she smile and embrace as she slowly leads him into the darkness, his face beaming with love at her. As they disappear the curtain slowly opens and the opera's final image is of King Marke and Brangane standing beside two white tombs surrounded by white flowers; breathtaking causing my tear ducts to let loose. It is perhaps the most satisfying and strikingly beautiful ending I've seen to this great opera.

After the final curtain and the final notes have faded it is a full 10 seconds of complete silence before the house erupts into a frenzy.

Zuben Mehta conducts the Munich forces with control and restrained passion and the orchestra responds with playing of ravishing beauty. In particular the Act III prelude which is so gorgeously played I had to repeat it before continuing with the act.

Even the curtain calls here are thrilling, and after the final solo bow, for Meier, the curtain opens to reveal the orchestra who have magically appeared on the stage, as Mehta leads the entire orchestra en masse down to the footlights to the wild cheering of the crowd. It too is a magnificent moment.

This DVD probably is not for everyone but if you're one of those who can get past some of the small bizarre touches (admittedly, several of my friends could not), this Tristan will prove to be a profoundly moving experience.

p.

I loved it. This is not a traditional production, but, it's not modern, either. It is as if it's set in the end of the 19th century. I find the huge ship in the first act very impressive. It moves forward and backward to change the scenes and it suits the music dramatically. So much things happen on this vassal! Everyone acts convincingly, especially Isolde and Brangaene, maybe some will find West's approach as Tristan in this act a bit "different" than the usual, though, it makes all sense as the story goes on.
The second act is the most innovative of all. I thought the "controversial" sofa was alright. They are noble, they won't just sit down on the ground to spend limited time with each other in a hidden place! Here they sit on the sofa confortably and talk about love at ease. Tristan is a big and strong man, he can carry a sofa anywhere he wants. The scene with the candles is really moving. This scene was never better presented before. Waltraud Meier is especially beautiful in this act, and she is such a natural actress.
The third act is really great. West's acting/singing is stunning. I had no problem with the slide show on the wall as someone criticized before. The slides were already invented in the late 19th century, right? The pictures are nostalgically in sepia and they show the castle, Tristan's childhood and most importantly his pregnant mother. You see the closeup of her as Tristan sings about her dead mother. It's such a powerful moment.
The last scene is electrifying. Meir's interpretation of Mild und Leise is to die for, and her facial expression is something you won't forget. Stunning! The video is so clear and the sound is Dolby Digital 5.1, it's as if she is right in front of you singing this most beautiful song ever written in history.

I have to say this is the first production of T&I I saw. The first act dissapointed me very much. I wasn't very happy with the cast either, espesially Jon West. This all faded away as soon as I saw act II, which moved me to tears: The yellow sofa, as if they were sitting in front of the tv. Waltraud's white dress with the red balls, I actually liked it in the second act. Jon West turned out to be a very sympathetic Tristan. And the candles scene took my breath away. I think the black clothing. revealed at the end of the act, and also the T&I stepping of the stage when K. Marke enters the scene are an incredible invention. At the end of Act III they do something similar. I had never percieved the true greatness of Waltraud Meier in the Daniel Barenboim recording, but now it came through laud and clear. She is, to me, the greatest Isolde ever. Better than Birgit Nilsson for Bohm or Martha Modl for Karajan. Offcourse it might also be the supurb quality of DVD video.

...If you want the good old fashioned solid, helmet, breastplate, horns Wagner, this is not the DVD to buy.

The picture quality of this anamorphically enhanced for 16x9 tv's dvd is very good. It has some minor motion artifacts, I assume this is due to a PAL NTSC (50Hz -> 60Hz ) conversion, and the fact that deinterlacing video sources is just extremely hard. It would have been nice to not have these, but why complain: this is by far the best looking opera DVD to date! I watched this on a 64" HDTV (Pioneer 710HD) with a progressive scan DVD player (Toshiba SD-9200) and it just blew me away.

The sound is very good too. It's 5.1 Dolby digital, but seems to mastered from a dolby surround matrix encoded sound track. It has good spacial envelopment and sounds very good, for DVD standards, though not as good as a CD (example Bernstein's Tristan with Hildegard Behrens)

Performance: Waltraut Meyer is (as expected) FENOMINAL! enough said. Kurt Moll SAME!, Mehta's orchestration is also beautifully done. The rest of the cast is defintely good to great, so we don't have any weaknesses there.

As far as the 'optimistic' end. I don't see the problem here. One reviewer thought both Tristan & Isolde are still alive.... Excuse me?????? It is OBVIOUS, they are both DEAD. I have always interpreted Isolde's singing about Tristan waking up, as an indication she is dying herself. Her 'mild und leise' just brings shivers down my spine.

Buy this set. Darken the room. Crank up the volume and enjoy.

I found this production of Wagner's great music drama to be perplexing to the extreme. The direction is really obscure, and it does nothing to highlight the emotion of the drama or the subtleties of the plot. The staging is also unatmospheric and confusing.

Meier is a good but slightly under-powered Isolde. West's Tristan is not on the same level, his singing often off-pitch and ugly. Lipvosek is miscast as Brangaene. The other roles are merely adequately taken. The orchestral playing is rather lifeless, too.

A rather disappointing production.

Nothing offensive in this production,at most some
odd costumes,even to the most puristic wagnerian.
The candles idea on actII is very elegant instead of
to watch the performers at the floor,beneath a tree for
so much time.Slides on act III fit well on methaphysical
aspects of the Tristan's death.Due I'm a professional
musician,some West's inaccurate tunning troubles me.
Furthermore he is a feeble actor and insecure in "O
sink hernieder" but,above all problems,this is a very
high performance by Mehta and his orchestra,an astonishing
Isolde by Meier,even better that one under Barenboim.
Her "Liebestod"(only she on stage,close curtains back)
comes completely intense,transcendental and audience in
Munich gives an outstanding ovation to her.I think
Lipvosek' harsh voice suitable to shrew parts like Fricka
and the nursemaid in "Frau ohne Schatten" but I didn't
like her Brangaene here and with Barenboim in spite of
she is a fine actress.Moll sings Marke emotionaly;he
understand this complex character(just forget a lot of
foolishness relating his age).A jubilant Melot by Claes
Ahnsjo and maybe,some apathy over Weikl.Nearly impossible
is perfection in a live Wagner,nevertheless this team
was so near.

After the prelude (beautifully conducted by Zubin Mehta) the drama begins on a ship of no known vintage, earthly design or even any concept of anything that might float. The young seaman looks as if he stole his uniform from Little Lord Fauntleroy. The ravishing Waltraud Meier is first seen wearing a dress that belongs in "Bride of Bozo". Tristan shaves incessantly.

This is just the beginning of the optical assault.

The second act features a "torch" that looks like a dandelion after an overdose of steroids. The great love duet from Act II is played out on an ugly yellow couch that looks as if someone painted it. Act III begins with a slideshow that's supposed to be symbolic but feels meaningless. The only good thing is that it gives Tristan something to do besides shave.

That's not to say this production should be avoided-it shouldn't be. The onslaught of visual weirdness aside, it's well acted, well played, well sung and the sound quality is good. As a conductor Mehta works for balance and feeling, something which serves the enormity and passion inherent in Wagner's works well. His orchestra is never too heavy or light in any area. His tempo is graceful but never too fast or slow. The cast is solid. Bernd Weikl and Marjana Lipovsek are solid in their roles as friends and confidantes to the cursed lovers. Kurt Moll brings warmth and compassion to each scene he's part of and Claes Ahnsjö is convincingly despicable as Melot. John Frederic West is an excellent actor and a decent singer. His voice isn't always quite strong enough for the role of Tristan. In the music's highest ranges his strain shows but he more than compensates with the intelligence he gives to the role and through the chemistry he shares with the production's Isolde, Waltraud Meier. The truth is that when these two play out their great love scene there's enough sparks between them for me to forget about the ugly couch.

Waltraud Meier is an Isolde to marvel at! Her performance alone should make this DVD a "must have".

As an actress she's fabulous. She doesn't waste movements or gestures but instead conveys meaning with each and every one. She's among the most acclaimed mezzo-sopranos of her generation and this performance shows why. Her range is phenomenal-there's not an instant where her voice shows a sign of strain (incredible given the demands of the music for Isolde). As all the great ones can she colors her voice with an infinite number of subtle and powerful shadings which give greater emotional depth to any area her voice touches. This may be what sets her so far beyond the rest. When the drama closes with Isolde's Liebestod she still sounds fresh, vibrant and alive. The Liebestod is one of those pieces of music good enough to warrant fame for its composer even if he or she hadn't written anything else of value. There are a lot of recordings of it but never enough good ones.

This isn't just one of the good ones-it's one of the great ones.

I have been all of my adult life involved in the production of Grand Opera and therefore am qualified to make this statement....
In regard to this production...BUY a CD instead....The whole scenic concept of Tristan is destroyed like an atomic bomb was dropped on it....To be very kind....For those of us, who have over the years, seen the romantic productions...This one is a waste of money and time....The works were written to fit within a time epoch...The music, Libretto, and the presentation were outlined by the composers as to production values as well as musical values ( especially this composer ), The set designer must be one of the young brats that wouldn't know romanticism if he were clobbered over the head with it...There's more to Opera than just singing and orchestra music... Here's good advice......Steer Clear of This Production if Eye Candy is as important to you as well sung portrayals of characters and good orchestral presentation....