Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very very slow hypnotic performance , 21 Aug 2007
This set is famous for being the slowest recorded. Behrens is an adequate Isolde although Tristan can be a bit uncertain of pitch. That is no wonder given the slowness of this set. Bernstein intended to draw out the performace to allow the dream like beauty of the opera to even better emerge. Some love this performance, some hate it. It depends on how you prefer this opera, fast or slow. At the other end of the scale is Bohm's super fast rendering with a superb female cast.
I have to say that Furtwangler's 1952 set isn't that much faster than Bernsteins (Furtwangler 1s 4 hours 15 mins) however his legendary set is never less than dramatic.
This set is good as part of a collection but is not a first choice.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this set, 15 Sep 2008
As one other reviewer points out, you'll either love this or hate this. I like my Wagner to breathe, with plenty of space given to his wonderful orchestration and attention to phrasing, which is why Goodall is my first, second, third...umpteenth choice for the Ring. Here Bernstein is in much the same mould, drawing every nuance from the music and creating a performance on a scale you will rarely hear. This is a subjective opinion, of course, but it is my view that this is the best Tristan on record and is unlikely to be surpassed for a very long time.
Take Brangane's first warning in Act Two. Slow, yes. Very slow, yes. But it is so, so beautifully done that, to put it in the most advanced musical jargon, my insides go all squidgy when I hear it even after 100 listenings. It is pornographic in its beauty. But Bernstein is not merely giving us a lengthy dose of slush - he is at his most intellectual here. It is clear that he understands the dark world Wagner creates - for example, the delirium scene in Act 3 is by turns shadowy, other-worldly, and truly terrifying in its intensity. Perhaps predictably the Liebestod is very slow - 9 minutes! - but it sounds so right in context. Bernstein is at his best here and reminds us why he is thought of as one of the great conductors.
The Bavarian Radio orchestra clearly aren't the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonics and they don't give that comforting cushion of sound associated with so many German Wagner recordings. On the other hand, they play above their station and nobody could fault the fullness of the strings or the weightiness of the brass. There is a raw sound at times, particularly in Act 3, but this fits Bernstein's interpretation; the balance is always right and although the brass are exciting and incisive, they are never too loud. The cor anglais in Act 3 is excellent and you feel the joy of the piper when his tune changes from mournful to ecstatic when he sees Isolde's ship.
Opera isn't opera without singers of course and here we have a strong cast. At the time she recorded this Behrens was unparallelled as a Wagner soprano, and she is both lyrical and heroic where needed. Hofmann is a bit edgy in the first Act but in Acts 2 and especially 3 is as good a Tristan as any - powerful but also melodious without Heldentenor barking. Hans Sotin is an excellent King Marke and for once Marke's Act 2 monologue is not a bore or anticlimax, though this is also due to Bernstein's support for the music here. Yvonne Minton is a resounding and sympathetic Brangane and Bernd Weikl is solid in the ungrateful role of Kurwenal.
The recording is excellent though 5 discs seems a bit excessive (I have heard that they've got it down to 4).
If there is one disadvantage it is this recording takes this opera out of the opera house. I have a feeling that Wagner would have approved of such a performance, but then his demands were always unrealistic. This performance was recorded live but an act at a time - it is almost impossible that such intensity at these slow tempi would be possible in a live performance of Tristan, as the demands on the performers would be too great. This is a performance to be enjoyed at home in a comfy seat in the knowledge that there's no hurry to get the last train and no worries about sore backs or needs for toilet visits (perhaps I'm showing my age here!).
I recommend this to anyone whose approach to Wagner is that the music matters more than anything, but with the proviso that if possible, you should have a listen before buying. Enjoy!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sleep-Inducing Tristan, 23 Nov 2007
This is the very first recording of Tristan I enountered, and I can still remember the excitement and expectation for devastatingly dramatic and powerful reading by Bernstein, and how disappointed I was when I listened to the Prelude and Liebestod. This must be one of Bernstein's great flops (a bit similar to his Tchaikovsky Pathetique DG recording) he stretches the whole music so much that it loses tension completely and the whole opera becomes sleep inducing dirge.
If you want really great Wagner recordings by Bernstein, get the Sony recordings of Wagner Orchestral music, including overwhelmingly powerful Prelude and Liebestod, immensely grand performance of Tanhauser Overture, Deeply moving rendition of Wesendonk Lieder and Immolation scene from Gotterdamerung.
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