Tristan Und Isolde - Placido Domingo [Box set]

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.

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.

Thanks also to Amazon for a quick delivery of this set in Flanders. In Flanders this recording is still not avalaible.