Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde (Barenboim, Orch Der Bf, Kollo) [DVD] [2007] [NTSC]

Much like my recent review of the 1981 Bayreuth production of Parsifal I am happy to say that this is by far the best production of Tristan und Isolde that I have seen and comes close to fulfilling everything that I imagine Wagner himself would have sought regarding his vision of gesamtkunstwerk.

There are no serious flaws with this performance/production though it is not perhaps absolutely perfect it is much better than other productions I have seen, including those that have been fairly traditional, that by comparison seem somewhat static and lacking in imagination in terms of staging.

Ponelle does a great job here firstly and foremost with a staging that perfectly complements the score - this is particularly clear in Act 2 whilst both Act 1 and Act 3 have appropriate sets. In Act 2 the music synthesizes perfectly with the changes from day to night and from the lovers' perception of day to night to day - sort of expressionistic but I think it works. Like the Parsifal production mentioned earlier the depiction of a natural world - large tree, grass, night and day effects - make this performance come to life and I think it is befitting of a Wagner opera: we see the natural world blend with a sort of transcendental world; this is a point that seems to be overlooked in modern productions of say 'der Ring'. The first act is done well though I felt it is the weakest of the three acts. This is perhaps difficult to stage but the use of a mast that semi-obscures Tristan seems quite appropriate. The final act opens impressively on a rock by a blackened tree as if to provide a contrast with the similarly dominating and very much alive tree present in the previous act when the lovers are in their element. Tristan is lying by the blackened tree and the shepherd sits side on to the audience to the left of the rock playing his pipe - I think this is a really effective touch, very melancholic but somehow mystical.
I am not sure about the ending in this act, it isn't what Wagner would have wanted, and I understand what Ponelle is doing here but I'm not sure about it really: Without meaning to spoil things he is essentially trying to engender the feeling that the finale isn't in fact tragic but actually is a sort of bliss through Schopenhaurian renuniciation.

The acting and singing performances of the key players are excellent: Kollo and Meier as the chief protagonists, Salminen as Marke, and also Schwarz as Brangaene. They certainly invest a lot of emotional energy and the studio recording allows for pretty much faultless sound, also in terms of being able to discern the singers and the orchestra clearly. Kollo and Meier are perhaps a little too old but that is maybe inevitable for an opera like this. Kollo doesn't look particularly upright and heroic in the opening act but is full of pathos and weltschmerz in the final act in a way that I can't imagine Vickers, for example, could be. Meier's age is perhaps a little too apparent in the close ups in the first act while in act 2 and 3 from a distance she makes a very fine Isolde. Salminen is spot on as Marke and puts real nuanced, rather than hammy, emotion into his performance. Schwarz sings very well throughout and her performance of the 'einsam wachend in der nacht' solo, one of my favourite bits, is really blended into the opera perfectly here. The other performers are also strong.

The conducting and orchestration is terrific. You would probably expect this given that the eminent Wagner conductor Barenboim is at the helm. His conducting emphasizes more the beauty than the passion of the work and on that basis i would liken it more to Furtwangler's famous recording rather than the more recent Böhm cd recording. Again, the beauty of the music is brought out more by the ongoing events on stage that are, for the most part, perfectly complementary in a manner that I would assume adheres fairly accurately with Wagner's staging specifications; although I would suspect that this would, at the time, have been considered in many ways a modern expressionistic interpretation.

Not much else to report except that from the dvd productions I have that are Bayreuth they have tended to be better on the whole anyway, I think the size and shape of the stage perhaps facilitate this. The quality of picture, chastized by another reviewer here, was not a problem for me - it's not perfect but it is as good as most classic dvd recordings and i don't think this made any difference to my enjoyment frankly.

So, i'd definitely recommend this, I prefer it to the Nilsson, Vickers, Böhm dvd recording and to the Jones, Kollo recording - where I think both singing and acting (probably owing to direction) is, for the most part, poor to be honest.

If you have always felt that the performances of Tristan und Isolde (whether on dvd or staged live) have not quite met with your expectations of how the opera could or should be done, then I think this could be the one for you and should really hammer home the greatness of this work.

Drama and sound are united in a highly satisfying production. Meier as Isolde is wonderful and Kollo does better here than he did for Klieber (and I like his performance for Klieber too).

This is a satisfying production because the sets, costumes, drama, and most importantly of all, the orchestral and vocal performances are so fine.

It knocks the Levine Met' (Eaglen/Hepner) production on DVD into a cocked hat.

After watching Acts 1 and 2, I was forming the opinion that this was the finest DVD of a Wagner opera available. The production up to the end of Act 2 is faithful to the composer's wishes, and there are no weak soloists. Kollo especially, I think, has the perfect voice to express the yearning of Tristan.
But there are two serious problems with Act 3:
1/ The singers are miming to what has been previously recorded. Why DG have chosen to go down this route for the final Act is beyond me - perhaps because of the difficulty of performing it. Whatever the reason, it lends an artificial and mannered air to the performance. One of the reasons I buy opera on DVD is to see it being performed, not mimed. A singer's behaviour changes completely when he or she is miming.
2/ The director's big idea here is to show that the closing events are Tristan's hallucination. This begins with Kurwenal and the Shepherd, distressed at Tristan's suffering, fooling Tristan into thinking a ship is approaching. This approach works up to a point, but it jars with the announcement of the arrival of a second ship (how long can they keep fooling Tristan, you wonder), and the ensuing skirmishes. And it doesn't explain what becomes of Isolde. She's evidently still in Cornwall. It's all a bit contrived, too clever by half, and arrogantly presumes that Wagner himself didn't know what he was doing, and can be improved upon. If modern directors have something they want to say, then they should write their own operas, and stop using Wagner to peddle their worthless ideas.
So Act 3 spoils the whole thing for me. A chance missed to have the ideal Tristan in Rene Kollo performing all 3 Acts on film for posterity, and not miming like an idiot.