Tristan Und Isolde - Placido Domingo [Box set]

This, they say, will be the last large-scale studio recording of an opera to be made. If that proves to be so, it must be said that it's something less than a triumphant End of an Era. Its main claim to fame is Domingo's assumption of the role of Tristan, late in his career. If it's his swansong as well, then that too is something less than a triumph. It's a part he would never take onto the stage and therein lies the problem. There is some wonderful singing here, especially in the last Act, though perhaps a little less than usual of that unique legato lyrical line we have come to admire in his Wagner performances. Perhaps he just can't come to terms with all that impenetrable Schopenhauerian philosophising about Night and Day in the first half of the Love Duet, but he sounds uncharacteristically disengaged from it all. One begins to understand why so much of this was often cut in performances in the old days. Things pick up from 'O sink hernieder', but the duet never really catches fire. The very end of Act 2 is better: his distracted response to King Marke is genuinely moving. As are large parts of Tristan's delirium in Act 3. Here, the increasingly baritonal qualities in his mature voice work very well.

The rest of the cast are interesting without ever blowing you away as a Nilsson, a Flagstad, a Melchior or a Vickers could. In this day and age Nina Stemme is quite a find - in former times she would have been less so. She makes an appropriately young-sounding Isolde, but she has a way to go to find all the facets of the character - she completely misses the bitter irony as Isolde tells Tristan what he might have said to King Marke, for example. There is a lovely richness to the bottom end of her voice and a good 'ping' at the top - a couple of beautifully taken top Cs near the beginning of the Duet. There is a warm and pleasingvibrato in the voice, too - one just hopes it doesn't spread into a wobble as her career develops. The Japanese Mihoko Fujimura is excellent - there's almost a role-reversal here as Isolde sounds more the mezzo and Brangane more the soprano and there are times when it's hard to differentiate which is singing. Still, it's refreshing to hear a less mature-sounding Brangane than usual and her Warning Song is a dream. Olaf Bar, surprisingly, is a bit of a bore, but Rene Pape proves himself another in the rich vein of Wagnerian basses to have come out of Germany since the war (Frick, Ridderbusch, Moll, Sotin, etc.). The star casting of the bit parts is a mixed blessing - Bostridge is excellent as the shepherd, Villazon less so as the Young Seaman.

Pappano has things to say about the score, no question, but others have more. For example, I like the way he brings out the motif of 'The Look' in the cellos early in the First Act to reveal Isolde's true feelings about Tristan, despite her protestations to the contrary. But I get no real feeling of abandon at the meeting in Act 2 (cf. Bohm) and the prelude to Act 3 misses the grinding angst in the lower strings set against the absolute loneliness of the violins as they climb higher and higher. Go to Bohm or Kleiber or Bernstein to find out how this can cut into the heart of the matter. The engineers miss a lot of tricks, too. The off-stage effects in particular seem botched - the fanfares that greet Marke's arrival in Act 1 are almost inaudible, the hunting horns at the beginning of Act 2 fail to recede further and further into the distance until they are almost inaudible just before 'Nicht Hornerschall' as Wagner instructed and the shepherd's pipe (beautifully played by the ROH's cor anglais player) is a bit too close-up for my taste.

The recording is dedicated to the memory of Carlos Kleiber. For the real visceral experience that a great Tristan can be, turn to him or, better still, to the classic Bohm Bayreuth recording.

This recording has been making headlines for largely extramusical reasons: it's maybe the last bigtime studio effort; private money had to foot much of the bill; and it's Placido Domingo's only crack at a role he's been approaching and avoiding for decades. So when I ordered it from overseas, what did I expect? Mostly a one-man showcase, though a decently interesting one since Domingo possesses the hard-to-believe combination of a splendidly preserved voice plus smarts and integrity. But what I NEVER expected was that these discs would embody an original, valid, long overdue, and genuinely moving reinterpretation of this disturbing masterwork.

What gives? 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, bright, fresh tone, pinpoint intonation, 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 less secure than they were on the Met DVD. But with Pappano's encouragement, his line readings are more probingly detailed 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 formidable 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, 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. Since directionality is already superb, the bonus DVD in 5.1 surround isn't markedly superior: it offers the pleasing convenience of an onscreen text and running translation, but the rear speakers add little extra information.

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.

The booklet includes a full German libretto, English and French translations, many pix, and generous notes. Fervently recommended.

The easy part first: Nina Stemme's radiant voice is every bit as wonderful as it was at Glyndebourne two years ago and will go on being for many years to come. She is perhaps not totally inside the role yet, but a long way there and, in this recording, a glory. Domingo is truly amazing: his Siegmund at ROH this year was a triumph, despite his German, and here too he outsings many of his recorded rivals. For sheer vocal beauty and, yes, power, he can't be bettered. But you do get the feeling that, after all, he is Domingo, not Tristan. Rene Pape, also fabulous at Glyndebourne, is also magnificent here: surely he must do Wotan one day - better than Terfel for sure. Olaf Bar is a bit emphatic as Kurwenal and the other supporting roles are well done - all with suitable intensity and accuracy. The recorded sound is excellent, with the ROH orchestra not having the weight and voluptuousness of Bayreuth or Berlin, but good enough. Pappano is earnest, continually seeking the profundity of the score, and occasionally even finding it. But, as with Stemme, you feel he will have more to say about this score one day.

The bonus DVD, with the entire opera on one disc in 5.1 sound, with displayed libretto, is a clever idea and very convenient: but if you are an audiophile, your CD player is likely to give you better sound than your DVD player.

In sum, an excellent issue but falling short of the astounding Bayreuth/Bohm set, where everything is just right, with an intensity which matches the opera, and with performances by experienced artists who are deep inside their characters. The Pappano is closest to Kleiber in feel, without perhaps the glory of the Dresden orchestra: a little too clean, maybe? Not enough sense of body fluids likely to ooze at any time? I am sure you will know what I mean.