Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde

Wagner (Artist), Pappano (Artist), Domingo (Artist), Stemme Pape (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 17, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B002N4DZ58
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,895 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wagnerian Bel Canto, February 19, 2011

By 

F. P. Walter (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde (Audio CD)

A midprice reissue of the 2005 headliner, this set is still a treasure trove. It's not only Placido Domingo's long-awaited crack at a role he'd been approaching and avoiding for decades, it's an original, valid, long overdue, and genuinely moving reinterpretation of this disturbing masterwork.

What do I mean? Well, as the admired British critic John Steane once wrote, Wagner himself "is said to have constantly urged his interpreters to sing in the Italian manner." And what does this manner entail? Steane again: "smoothness of line, beauty of tone, and elegance of technical accomplishment." Handed the reins by EMI, Covent Garden music director Antonio Pappano has, at long last, set about giving us nothing less than bel canto Wagner.

You hear it from the outset of the Act I prelude -- the strings are warm and burnished, spin a continuous singing line, crescendo in arcs from the brink of inaudibility, then taper back into silence on phrase endings. And when the young sailor (Rolando Villazon in luminous voice) sings his love ditty, similar principles apply: long-breathed legato, mastery of a wide dynamic range (including echo effects and well-supported soft singing), and eager articulation of the text.

Clearly this is official directorial policy, because much the same can be said of every cast member here. Mihoko Fujimura's lyric mezzo traces Brangaene's lines with unusual delicacy and variety, perfectly in tune, finely focused, floating her high notes ("Welcher Wahn!" in I iii is sweetly nurturing, the Watch in II ii marvelously ethereal). As for Isolde, here the set serves instant notice that it isn't a Domingo ego trip but a whole-souled effort to do the work justice. Nina Stemme hasn't Fujimura's floated high notes (she sustains her pianissimo F sharp at the close of "Mild und leise" by discreetly widening the vibrato), but she has everything else: imaginative phrasing, gleaming tone, on-the-dot tuning, steady emission, well-knit scale, soaring top, melting legato ("Ich bin's, ich bins" in III ii is heartrending). Within seconds of her first entrance it's clear she's the real thing: she piles hair-raisingly into "Hoert meinen Willen" and you realize she's as accomplished an Isolde as we've had since the seventies.

Our two low-voiced leads aren't on this level but still have plenty to offer. Olaf Baer's lovely baritone is undersized and thin on the bottom for the rambunctious Kurwenal, but he really sells his taunting ballad and is sensitive and affecting throughout Act III. As for Rene Pape, his mellifluous basso cantate is choice casting for King Marke, though his forte top notes are chancier than they were on the Met DVD. But with Pappano's encouragement, his line readings are more probing and he manages a marvel of hushed poignancy at "Da kinderlos." Plus we sense the conductor's fine Italian hand even with the bit players: they all display this same balance of smooth legato and pointed articulation of the words -- e.g., the intimate delivery and silver sound of Ian Bostridge's shepherd, or Jared Holt's split-second ability to make a fearsome figure of Melot through ringing tone, energetic phrasing, and a telling subito piano at "ob ich mein Haupt."

And now the set's reason for being. There's no percentage in quibbling over Domingo's Tristan -- the voice is in excellent working order -- or in chiding him for not tackling the part onstage -- tenors who do seem not to enjoy long careers (Hofmann, Thomas, Jerusalem, Kollo, even Windgassen; Melchior doesn't count because he sang a drastically abridged and simplified version). But in the studio the role's characteristic high notes (A flat, A) aren't a problem, Domingo's bronze timbre aptly suggests Tristan the warrior, his soft singing is firmly supported and never crooned or declaimed (unlike the maverick Vickers), and he partners Stemme gallantly (in the duet passages of "O sink hernieder," they pitch the tricky intervals with breathtaking ease and accuracy). His could well be the most thoroughly SUNG Tristan in Wagner history -- yet, like the rest of the company, he's also alert to verbal and theatrical values, sardonically relishing the consonants at "seines flackernden Lichtes fluechtige Blitze," almost spooky at "Dem Land, das Tristan meint," downright bloodcurdling during his curse on the "furchtbarer Trank." Again, there's no percentage in quibbling -- this Tristan is intelligent, poetic, emotionally open, vocally qualified, musically immaculate, and desperately needed. In short, it's a genuinely significant piece of work and a fitting capstone to an extraordinary career.

As suggested, the Covent Garden orchestra is another eloquent factor. First violins come from your left speaker, seconds from your right, instantly clarifying the polyphony. Tempos are fleet yet cleanly executed, so nothing seems rushed. And in a crunch this band has no problem exchanging bel canto lyricism for crushing power: they're thrilling in the runup to Tristan's entrance in II ii, gut-wrenching with the famous discord that interrupts "O ew'ge Nacht."

The stereo sonics are warm, airy, and wide-ranging, locating events with exceptional variety and specificity between the two speakers.

So how does this new set stack up against the competition? Remarkably, I'd say. Despite monaural sound and variable vocalism, the 1952 Furtwaengler set remains a classic, with the 1966 Boehm another standard recommendation and the 1982 Kleiber a more recent favorite -- but for today's consumers, Pappano's is the most vibrantly recorded, appealingly sung, and immediately communicative performance available in stereo.

Includes a bonus disk with libretto and translation. As before, fervently recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bel canto Wagner, but just a tad bland, February 5, 2012

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde (Audio CD)

Despite my having acquired it on its appearance, I have held off reviewing this "Last of the Studio Recordings" to let the dust settle and digest its worth. I have been re-visiting a good few "Tristan" recordings recently and have re-discovered my attachment to semi-forgotten accounts like Knappertsbusch's 1950 live Bayreuth account, Karajan's live Bayreuth performance from 1952 and the classic Furtwängler set. So where does this one fit in? Warning bells go off when I find that a recording languishes on my shelves or is the last to be selected from a range on offer, and I realised that I needed to uncover my subconscious reluctance to listen to this recording first.

Well, that faint lack of enthusiasm does not primarily stem from any problem with the orchestral playing or conducting. It's in beautiful sound, the Royal Opera House Orchestra plays magnificently and Pappano has a vision for the work, which is to bring out the burnished glow and languorous beauty of the score without sacrificing tension. A lot of the time it works, the overture heaves like the ocean, the stately chords heralding Tristan's ominous appearance when summoned by Isolde to leave the helm and present himself as "die Sitte" (according to Isolde) demands are grand and ominous, the love potion music just before the hectic conclusion of Act I pulses and yearns. Pappano manages to sustain the necessary poise and poignancy in the Act III Prelude - always a difficult challenge. Orchestrally, it is a concept which is nowhere near as magisterial as Furtwängler achieves or as passionate as Knappertsbusch's or Karajan's concept but it is of a piece in its Lieder-like attention to detail and commands respect.

No, the problem lies in my response to the voices themselves, inevitably up against others of legendary status. Nina Stemme has a big, vibrant voice and certainly conveys youthful passion. Unfortunately, at emotional moments at high volume that vibrancy can spill over into a marked tremolo or even an incipient wobble in a role which calls for absolute steadiness. Hence at key moments such as "Er sah mir in die Augen" she cannot maintain a firm line and defaults into a thin trembling sound which lacks intensity; "mild und leise" is powerful and has the right, rapt, "otherworldly" quality but is a wobbly. And while she can certainly do anger, desperation and scorn; she has not the experience to bring out biting irony.

Otherwise, Stemme's co-singers are afflicted by what I can only describe as a kind of blandness. Mihoko Fujimura has a fine, steady mezzo of virtually faultless intonation but she brings little individuality to her Brangäne and her voice is often indistinguishable from Stemme's. Olaf Bär lacks low notes, barks a bit and is frankly a bit of bore - always a danger with this puppy-dog role. I remarked of René Pape's recent Wagner recital that he had lost a lot of the vibrancy the voice had in his youth and again here as King Mark his top notes are weak and the tone is comparatively grey here, with neither the heart-breaking intensity nor the effulgence of voice that such as Talvela or Ridderbusch find in the role. Having said that, his "Tod denn alles!" and "Erwache!" right at the end is rather good; he finally finds some real depth of feeling. Villazon gives us a lovely, impassioned cameo as a virile Young Sailor; let's hope he has recovered from his recent vocal trials. I can just about tolerate Ian Bostridge here as the Shepherd; just don't press me on the point...

Which leaves Domingo. A knee-jerk criticism is to scoff at his German but I wonder how many of those who do so actually speak the language and have noticed how much it had improved by the time of this recording? It's still a bit Hispanic but no disaster. He can certainly manage this role without strain in studio takes and brings all his stage experience and much rich, intelligent singing to bear on it. The weight and colour of voice are right; he is touching in his Third Act raving, more musical than Melchior's wayward if compelling moaning or Vickers' effortful agonisings. Always a key point for me is when Tristan has his quasi-mystical vision of the ship scudding over the waves and bringing the waving Isolde to him, first lilting in 3/4 time: "Und drauf Isolde, wie sie winkt". Domingo catches the other-worldly desperation of his illusion and Pappano supports him nobly; "Ach, Isolde, Isolde! Wie schön bist du" is sung with the requisite poetic stillness.

On balance, therefore, this is a "Tristan" I admire but would rank middlingly. For fire, passion and the kind of integrated, visionary quality that sweeps you up into its world and which is missing from this careful account, I return to a batch of recordings from fifty and sixty years ago.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For me, the "breakthrough" Tristan, August 1, 2011

By 

Ms. Castorp (Grand View Farm) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde (Audio CD)

I am a fairly new Wagnerian. When I was searching for my first Tristan recording several years ago, I followed conventional wisdom to purchase the classic 1952 Furtwängler/Flagstad set, hailed by many as the absolute pinnacle of recorded Wagnerian musicianship. Unfortunately, I just didn't get it. My inexperienced ears couldn't (and to a large extent still can't) get past the poor sound quality, and the work remained an enigma.

I went out on a limb and bought this recording--and the pieces suddenly fell into place.

My "breakthrough" was due in no small part to Placido Domingo's Tristan. Yes, Domingo is an unconventional Wagnerian and nearing the end of a very long career. However, the sheer beauty of his voice and interpretation is to my ears unique among Wagner recordings. He brings his acclaimed dramatic nuance to the third act especially, for a final half hour that is almost horrifyingly gripping.
Nina Stemme's Isolde is elegant, rich, and untiring. Catch her live if you can--she is a formidable actress in the theater.
Further, the sound is warm and full, augmented by Pappano's detailed conducting. Now I wish I had a better speakers to do justice to it!
All in all, this is the recording I would most quickly recommend to newcomers to the work, both for the excellent sound quality and for the sympathetic performances of Stemme and Domingo.