Written By The Wagnerian on Thursday 7 July 2011 | 8:06:00 pm
As I repeat often, reviews are such subjective things - as is reality according to Schopenhauer of course ("Die Welt ist meine Vorstellung") - but I really am starting to worry about Michael Tanner - noted Wagnerian he might be - when he defines an entire scene of an opera production to the wrong act (see goblets and skulls) and "shortness of breath"? Indeed, no mention of the excellent Gadd or Fulgoni? (I believe we both attended the same night). Perhaps spending so much time writing for a magazine of which Boris Johnson was editor is damaging the poor chaps memory and mind? Evil "Spectator", release the poor man at once. I jest of course.
Tristan und Isolde is one of the greatest challenges that an opera house can take on, in some ways the greatest of all.
Tristan und Isolde is one of the greatest challenges that an opera house can take on, in some ways the greatest of all. So it is wonderful to be able to report that at Grange Park it has been mounted with a large degree of success, and that most of the things that are wrong with it could easily be righted, though they won’t be. The most remarkable thing about it is the level of singing, almost uniformly high, and certainly with no weak link. Isolde is Alwyn Mellor, Longborough’s Brünnhilde, and also scheduled to sing that role for Opera North and for Seattle. Besides her impressive voice, she has plenty of temperament, and encompasses the whole of Isolde’s emotional range, from the fury and frustration and resulting irony of Act I, to the excited and expectant woman in love of Act II, to the at first distraught and finally transfigured heroine of Act III. The only things that worried me about her singing were a shortness of breath on what should have been sustained high notes, and a tendency to squeeze into notes. How long it is, though, since I saw so complete a realisation of this role, and one which will certainly grow much further.
The Tristan is the veteran Richard Berkeley-Steele, now in his late fifties, but neither looking nor sounding it. He is a rather wooden actor, and did little more than stand around in Act I, apart from an unfortunate attack of what appeared to be vomiting brought on by the love potion, and sit around in Act III. But his voice is pleasant, and at times heroic; and in the most moving passage of all, perhaps, Tristan’s invitation to Isolde to follow him to the ‘Wunderreich der Nacht’ near the end of Act II, he was profound and inward. It is probably the director’s fault rather than the singers’ that chemistry between the lovers was less than ideal.
Written By The Wagnerian on Saturday 2 July 2011 | 10:12:00 pm
“The way the will sometimes takes matters into its own hands can be seen in me. It had its ideas for me, and since I should have otherwise stopped cooperating, it brought us together in real life – independent of the fact that outside of time and space we belong to each other anyway – with the result that I started cooperating again” Richard to Cosima Wagner – February 26, 1872 (Cosima Wagner’s Diaries. Trans: Geoffrey Skelton)
Before we start, a brief explanation: this isn’t a “review”. Reviews remind me of marking sheets and scores; star ratings and thumbs up/thumbs down (pre-finals nightmares come rushing back) . Don’t get me wrong, I like reviews, some are highly entertaining and on occasion, when well written, more enjoyable than the thing they review. However, as I know you dear reader are already aware, they are nothing more than the result of individual sense perception and processing and are thus as unreliable as hundreds of graduate and undergraduate psychology experiments have proven such, perceptions, processing and recall to be. And to this we must add the peculiarities and eccentricities of individual “taste” – especially in opera and even more so in the case of Wagner. And finally, good review writing is a talent and one I simply do not have. And so, with that in mind, the following is the result of my own peculiar sense perception processing and “preferences” about Grange Park Opera’s Tristan und Isolde.
There is an ongoing, heated, but friendly, debate taking place over on the Facebook page of wagnernet at the moment. The warring sides have been split into two opposing armies: those that think Wagner opera staging should remain faithful to the text (let us call them the Cosimas) and those that think opera directors should be free to stage Wagner’s operas in any way that represents whatever their own interpretations of said operas might be (let us call them the Katherinas). This of course is a debate that started at least at the end of the 19th century and one that continues to this day. If you are unfamiliar then simply take a quick look at the clips from two very different productions of the Ring Cycle.
And yet, with a few exceptions, Tristan has entered this debate with far less frequency than anything else Wagner created. The reason for this I think is simple, Tristan is perceived within the context of Wagner’s then growing understanding of Schopenhauer’s philosophy. The number of times I have seen it described as a “meditation” on “Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung or as “not really an opera at all but a form of “oratorio” is, to be frank, boring . There are also two further factors that may add to the lack of dramatic staging of this opera: one, unlike the Ring for example (for reasons that should be clear to those that understand when the libretto of the ring was written and what Wagner believed at that time) Tristan contains very little in the way of stage direction or description. Second, Tristan is often a smaller or newer opera company’s first Wagner opera. This is because it requires far less resources than Wagner’s other works (Wagner “on the cheap” if you like) and in part, I think - due to its reputation as a philosophical oratorio - it is far easier to justify staging it with little in the way of sets, props or indeed acting skills (after all, the work places enough pressure on the performers from a vocal perspective – who wants to add acting to the mix). But this misconception is just so wrong. Wagner was, among many other things, a dramatist. He wrote and told wonderful, complex emotional dramas. Yes, he might well have been trying to change the very core of his audience’s view of reality – and indeed, society as a whole - but he believed that this could only be done, partially, with the use of drama. Wagner was part and parcel of the German Romantic movement and like most of those of this movement he adored Shakespeare and his use of drama. Add to this the fact that his “stepfather” was a renowned actor, as was his first wife and other members of his family and it is easy to see that he was steeped in the theatre. Indeed many associates, including Cosimo, maintained that had he wanted he could have become a fine actor. Tristan is thus, among many other things a damn good piece of dramatic theatre. Don’t believe me? Look at a summary of Tristan:
Girl’s fiancé is murdered by a handsome knight. Girl swears revenge but then ends up healing said knight and falls in love with him. Knight loves girl but sense of honor compels him to bring girl back to his king as his future wife. It’s a “dark and stormy night” at sea, girl calls for revenge. Knight hints he loves girl but she doesn’t seem “to get it”. She seeks to kill him and herself using poison. He sees through it but takes “poison” anyway. Girl drinks too. But faithful servant has used love potion instead. Intrigue, subterfuge, disloyal friends, loyal friends, sword fights. Knight mortally wounded. Knight is rescued by friend. Last minute dash by girl to save hero, loyal friend of hero waits in fear, misunderstanding leads to more sword fights and death, wise king arrives but too late.
Good lord! This could be the plot of any number of highly successful Hollywood blockbusters. And yet time and time again, I hear the same thing: “Wagner’s operas are boring” “Nothing like Verdi, or Puccini” . “Lots of standing around talking” Where is the passion? Where is the drama? Where is the sheer nail biting tension? And time after time opera companies and stage directors repeat the same formula – with variations - that repeat this misconception. So, where is the drama? Where is the emotion? On Thursday night it was found at Grange Park Opera.
This is not to say everything “worked” of course. There were one or two moments that…but more of that later.
Thursday, 30th June 2011 Production
Act one begins, following Wagner’s direction, on a ship; Isolde is in a cabin, accompanied by her faithful servant Brangäne with the ship soon to arrive at port in Cornwall. However, while remaining faithful to the original description here things deviate - but don’t worry it’s mostly for the better. When the curtain opens we are not presented with the medieval sailing vessel one might expect. Instead, we find ourselves on a very modern hovercraft or military sailing vessel. At the front of the ship (stage rear) are Tristan and Kurwenal – hidden behind sliding doors when directions call for it - standing at the “helm”. This is a very modern setting. Think of the way Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen took Shakespeare’s Richard III and set in an alternative 1930’s England and youre close – or at least getting there. And like that it works well. These are, within the confines of staged opera drama, “real” people. It is just possible to believe that there is some truth in the narration (at least in the Romantic tradition). Tonight will be a night were the action on the stage represents Schopenhauer’s phenomenal reality while the music represents the “true” noumenal reality - a reality of the undifferentiated “one” presenting itself as the the constant uncaring “Wille”. What we see is on stage is the “everyday” , the “real”; what we hear in the music is “true” reality. This is what Wagner’s own writing suggests should be the case – “phenomena on stage, noumenon in the music.
Mellor portrays this most human of Isoldes wonderfully – she is hurt, mortified, angry. Her Wille demands satisfaction: first with Tristan’s presence and devotion and then with his death. She cannot believe that either she did not kill him when she discovered who he was, or that he has now, as she sees it, betrayed her by taking her to King Marke to be married . Right from the beginning Isolde is all Wille, the very epitome of Romanticism. But she is also a very human woman. This is not the metaphysical construct of so many operas, or the unbelievably irrational, angry Isolde of others or even the slightly “icy” Isolde of the legendary Nilsson. No, Mellor makes this Isolde someone who you can sympathise with. This is a very human Isolde indeed.
Before the “love potion”, Steele’s Tristan , with the odd moment of “weakness”, is the embodiment of military control – loyal to his King, royal to his country, patriotic above all else, emotions kept under tight control. He is keeping his true feelings fully in check and yet occasionally, under the surface...
Flagstad, Suthaus, Furtwangler 1951.: Love Duet: Part 1
Kurwenal is less formal, but as Tristan’s friend, is all heroic bravado. There may be the occasional “chink” in Tristan’s “armor” but this is not found in Gadd’s heroic and confident Kurwenal . This is a man firmly of the enlightenment . And again, within the setting, this is fully plausible.
Brangäne is generally portrayed as Isolde’s loyal servant, the soundboard for Isoldes emotions and yet also, to some small degree the voice of “reason”. And while this remains the case, in this production Brangäne s “rationality” is taken further than I think I have seen before. Here Brangäne is transformed from a faithful servant to a super efficient PA. This is emphasized as the curtains open and we find Brangäne, in a black business suit, clipboard in hand, hair tied back, perhaps writing a report or filling in a check-list – all very “business like”. Initially, this Brangäne seems less sympathetic to Isoldes unhappiness than is often the case. If Isolde, and soon Tristan, are embodiments of the Romantic Movements rejection of the Enlightenments pure reason then Brangäne here is that reason personified. From a Freudian perspective (and as we know, Tristan has been analysed from just about every perspective) Brangäne is fully Isolde’s superego and nowhere has this been made more explicit than in this production. Indeed, due to this there were moments early on in the act were I felt Branigans obvious bewilderment and lack of understanding of Isolde’s mortification risked lessening the impact of Isoldes emotions on the audience (it can be very easy to ridicule Isolde’s “rant” in the first act) but thankfully this decreased as soon as mention of the poison came into play and Brangäne grew both more sympathetic, and in equal measure, horrified by what is about to take place and her own role in it.
Flagstad, Suthaus, Furtwangler 1951.: Love Duet: Part 2
Act 2 is Tristan and Isolde’s act and some of the most beautiful love duets ever written, sustained and intermingling, never-ending (if only). Both Tristan and Isolde seek the dark, for it is in the night that not only can they be together in a physical sense (away from prying eyes) but it is here that they can begin to leave the phenomenal and grow closer to their real goal – to become “one”. The day is Wagner’s representation of the phenomenal world and night – the dark – allows him to represent the noumenal, both unknown and unknowable , reality – or at least bring the lovers closer to it. Here there is no Tristan, is no Isolde (as they both keep telling us), indeed there are no “things” only “one” - Schopenhauer’s “reality” – although altered by Wagner. Indeed, it is here, once the lights are extinguished and the sun sets, that the stage no longer needs to represent the phenomenal world, instead the staging can finally attempt represent what we have been hearing in the music all along - and this is what Fielding does.
The scene opens in a large hotel bedroom, well lit and painted white – to my eyes a little sterile, but this may just be me. It is only once Tristan arrives – after Isolde has literally “turned down the lights” that the set parts and the room vanishes . As the lovers begin their journey towards, but never reaching, “the one”, the background changes to a sun eclipsed by the moon. However it is at this stage the setting so far revealed draws perilously close to unraveling. This is entirely due to a moment of “clumsy” and far too literal interpretation of the text . Stage left and stage right enter two large cardboard cut outs of a skull and overturned goblet respectively. These are joined by a giant dagger that is lowered from the center of the stage (at one point I was worried that the “string” would break and it would swing in Mellor’s direction, knocking her unconscious. And was its rising and falling in the manner that it did supposed to be quite so phallic or was this just me?) Thankfully, these frankly “drama school” efforts leave the stage as quickly (although not quick enough) as they arrive. Fielding quickly recovers and back on form ,the lovers find themselves in an abstract forest ,wonderfully represented through the use of Wolfgang Goebbel’s very clever lighting and video projections.
Act two of course ends with Melot’s betrayal and the confrontation with King Marke, and the lovers are quickly brought back to the “light”. Once again the rather sterile bedroom that opened the act is returned and the lovers are once more back in the “real world” - if still intoxicated by their journey towards the “other”. The “fight” here is well staged, and King Marke’s guards forcing Stephen Gadd’s Kurwenal to sit in a corner of the stage helplessly is somehow more poignant than normal. For once Kurwenal actually looks helpless and despondent – although this is greatly helped by the acting talent of Gadd. Andrew Rees’ wonderfully dislikable Melot needs mentioning here also.
And so, to the final act: I had of course seen images of the final act and have to say that I was concerned. Was it “realistic” – or even just warranted - to have Tristan lie dying in a rubber dingy which itself was in a boat house? But I need not have worried, for it actually works. Again, the set design sets the mood of the piece. Once again, lighting is both subtle and fantastic.
Flagstad, Suthaus, Furtwangler 1951.: Love Duet: Part 3
Steele and Gadd make a wonderful final act and work well together. I have to admit that I was not however impressed with Fielding’s staging when the young Tristan, his mother and dead father appeared on stage as he narrates the tragedy of his childhood. However, I note that certain viewers liked this a lot. But as I have said, these things vary on “taste”. It did not “ruin” the act the way I felt the cutout skull had nearly done for me in act two, but I did find a little too “clunky” at times and just a little too “literal”.
Once again, the final fight scene here is well choreographed – better than it was on a video available on YouTube especially.
The Liebestod is performed outside of the set – the curtains now drawn while changes behind the scenes take place – and this works wonderfully.
Cast
This production was blessed with one of the finest casts seen in a long time, in one opera house and at the same time in a performance of Tristan.
Alwyn Mellor and Richard Berkeley-Steele rise to the production and more importantly Wagner’s music wonderfully . Rarely does one find two performers so able to sustain such a level of vocal power, warmth and sheer beauty throughout the genuinely demanding three acts of this monster of an opera. Berkeley-Steele’s tones are lyrical, with no hint of heldentenor bark - heroic when needed, gentle as required. And his acting? It has improved much since I last saw him, and his final act with Kurwenal is beautifully conceived And of Alywyn Mellor? I have heard her before and each time she has been good, but this time? What can one say : her vocal power, beauty and warmth have grown substantially. Her Isolde is not only a revelation due to her fine acting - which manages to make this the most human of Isoldes – but so to is her vocal performance. Rarely does one truly feel one is in the presence of an Isolde of exceptional beauty and quality but tonight was one of those nights. Indeed, based on tonight’s performance I shall attempt to catch her Brünnhilde at Longborough this month if possible – although tickets are selling fast. If you live in the UK I feel certain that you need to catch this woman’s performances now, before she is stolen – like all great talent - by the MET, Bayreuth, La Scala, etc.She is already booked for Seattle Opera Ring Cycle in 2013
In Sara Fulgoni, there is a world class Brangäne in the making. In Tristan she manages to hold her own easily among an exceptional cast – especially when she must spend so much time on stage with the frankly stunning Mellor. Her tone is wonderfully warm and clear. This is especially so in the lower and middle registers She is also a good actress and makes a wonderfully, if somewhat eccentric, and in the early stages of act one an occasionally comically mocking Brangäne. It would be nice to see her perform the first act in a more "traditional" manner in the near future..
Andrew Rees’ holds his own with the rest of the cast, no easy task with an ensemble of this magnitude, and his Melot is well acted and as dislikable and “nasty” as he should be, while wonderfully menacingly sung but with fine tone.
In act two, and from stage left, enters Clive Bayley’s frail, shocked and disbelieving King Marke. The night before I had been listening to Pape’s King Marke and felt this was a mistake. The chance of anyone matching this was most unlikely and surely only disappointment would ensue? . And the frailty of Bayley's King Marke seemed to insure this, but my word was I wrong. This was a world class performance, clear, smooth, emotional and, goddamit I will use the word, velvety. Why oh why is Clive Bayley not to be found all over youtube? Why can I not buy DVD recordings of his performances? I can of course buy CDs,of his performances on Chandos in their Opera in English series but why is he not more recorded and in original language performances? Why he is not performing as King Marke and indeed Gurnemanz in the world’s leading opera houses is beyond me. If you see his name on a cast list anywhere, (In Wagner alone next season you can catch him as Hunding in Opera Norths ongoing Ring Cycle and as Daland in ENO's Flying Dutchman) go to the performance. Even if it is an opera you dislike, simply to hear him.
From the moment that Stephen Gadd ‘s Kurwenal first appears in act one you know you are in for treat. His performance has the best qualities of a star baritone: clarity, power, warmth and expression. His German dictation is excellent but then, perhaps this is to be expected as he has sung Melot at the ROH, Baden Baden and Glyndebourne (Where, for Wagner trivia lovers, he also played Macbeth in 2007 conducted by Glyndebourne’s future Music Director Robin Ticciati). So, he has an excellent familiarity with the text. Although, so heroic was his opening scene I did have concerns as to whether he could then undergo the change that occurs to Kurwenal in act 3, were we find his confidence subdued, full of pathos awaiting the only person who can cure Tristan. But I need not have worried. Not only did he display the vocal and emotional flexibility to carry the change with ease but the acting ability also. The relationship between him and Tristan really shone through in this act- helped greatly by Berkeley-Steele’s Tristan. On the night these two worked wonderfully together.
I can only repeat what other reviewers have said: it took a little time for English Chamber Orchestra to “get going”. I had serious concerns during the prelude which was not what it should be. Wagner of course places a tremendous strain on any orchestra and the ECO, in the confines of Grange Park, are not of the size that you might expect to provide the “lushness” required for Tristan and thus it might be understandable. However, as the first act progressed things changed and by the beginning of the second act they were playing with all of the lushness, power and emotion that you might expect in any performance of Tristan – indeed they presented themselves very well indeed. Wagner is hard work for the world’s leading symphony orchestras and ECO managed to hold their own well. Stephen Barlow seems to have a good grasp of the music. His tempos seemed very fast to me – up there with Bohm and that is no bad thing. But I might be mistaken, as I lost track of the time – so emotionally involved did one become with the performance, time moved very quickly indeed. In no small part is this due to ECO’s power and Barlow’s expert handling of the score.
So, what can one say overall? I certainly was not expecting the performance that greeted me, given that Grange Park Opera is still so young, the size of the orchestra pit and the opera house as a whole - and that they do not receive any Arts Council funding. It was without doubt one of those very special nights at the opera very rarely repeated. Time, as someone once said elsewhere, truly turned into space.
Written By The Wagnerian on Wednesday 8 June 2011 | 6:18:00 pm
Sorry, missed this one in my recent review of the reviews. Find the edited high-lights below.
"There is a serious outbreak of Wagner in the southern counties this summer, with Glyndebourne opening its season with Meistersinger, Longborough's Ring due to reach Siegfried, and Grange Park presenting its first staged Wagner"
"No Tristan will ever be perfect, but this bold venture builds into something wholly exceptional".
"The pair possess the sheer stamina to see them through the long evening, with Mellor's fleshy-toned Isolde sounding amazingly fresh as she soars through the climactic Liebestod. Berkeley-Steele, too, has plenty in reserve for the existential firestorm of the third act."
Stephen Gadd's noble Kurwenal – a moving character study in unstinting loyalty – and Clive Bayley's King Mark, the raw vulnerability of whose epic lament is one of the evening's high points.
"Sara Fulgoni's Brangäne – a more active participant in David Fielding's self-designed staging than in many others – is equally striking, while Andrew Rees's embittered Melot leaves an indelible mark"
"...conductor Stephen Barlow, who finds a viable balance between stage and pit".
Written By The Wagnerian on Monday 6 June 2011 | 7:11:00 pm
Wouldn't life be so much easier if we all thought the same? If we all saw, heard, perceived and processed things in the same way? I am always amazed to find people who believe that this is the case. Alas, as I know you are aware good reader, this is not so. If you should find anyone who does suffer this affliction - and cannot be persuaded otherwise - one could convince them to spend many years at undergraduate study alone. Suggest any of the following academic areas (or a combination thereof): Neurophysiology, Behavioral psychology, Cognitive psychology, (or more likely combine these two as Cognitive-behaviorism), Social Psychology, Psychoanalytical psychology, Functionalism (perhaps), Structuralism (maybe) or go-for-broke with Phenomenology.
Alternatively, and with a lot less time and expense, one could simply select something that has been reviewed (movie, concert, CD, play or as in this case opera) by a number of different reviewers and read their conclusions and thoughts. It's a game I love to play. Try it.
As I have said before, reviews often tell you more about the reviewer than the thing being reviewed. And with that in mind, I present a summery of the reviews of Grange Park Opera's first Tristan. Alas, due to work commitments, I was unable to attend first night but will be popping down later this month. I shall place my own set of perceptions for your considerations then. But I will say one thing, before leaving you in the capable hands of the professional reviewers: there is enough praise and intrigue here to ensure that I do attend
Staging.
Some reviewers loved all of David Fielding's unusual staging (see a video preview here) some where not to keen. However, even those that disliked his concept in the first act had, by the third, fallen for it completely. Well, all, at first glance, but Andrew Clarke at the FT, who one feels wasn't keen:
"David Fielding’s modern-dress staging is not one of his best: like Fuchs’s Flute, it amounts to a decoration of the text rather than an interpretation. The first act unfolds in the cabin of what could be a navy frigate, the second in a double bedroom blossoming into a forest glade, the third in a derelict seaside building".
Oh dear. But wait a minute? What's this hidden as the last line of his review?
"But Fielding comes good at the Liebestod, matching Wagner’s poetic vision of romantic union in death."
High praise indeed! The little tinker! And he nearly had me fooled.
At first read, the Telegraph seems equally dismissive: "David Fielding has domesticated Wagner’s most intensely romantic tragedy, yet made it strangely unfamiliar, too. His production at times verges on the unintentionally farcical." starts Rupert Christiansen. However, he then goes on, "But through its often strikingly beautiful imagery, manifested in wonderful sets designed by Fielding, it also develops considerable poetic resonance. But then, off he goes again seeming to contradict himself, "We could be in a Preston Sturges movie with Isolde played by Claudette Colbert. So far, so glib – the stuff of just another smart-alec, deconstructive updating." (Personally, I would take being compared to a Preston Sturges movie as a compliment but what would I know). But wait. Don't return those tickets just yet. This is all a ruse. It's the first act he doesn't like:
"But during the love duet, as walls melt and a dream world replaces reality, the staging becomes more subtle. Act Three is visually very powerful: Tristan is stranded with Kurwenal in a derelict house by a deserted seashore, haunted by the ghosts of his past – and with Marke’s arrival proving truly catastrophic, the lovers’ death-defying karma comes to seem profoundly psychotic."
Phew! Thank goodness for that. The little tinker.He nearly did an Andrew Clarke. Perhaps they got together at the bar after the opera and developed - in true Baldrick style - "a cunning plan" to play a little joke on us?
Over at the London Evening Standard that old Wagnerian Barry Millington explains that Fielding relocates each act to three distinct locals, all indoors: on board ship, a hotel and a boat yard. Thus it is, "...one way of scaling down this monumental masterpiece for modest resources: without in any way compromising its metaphysical superstructure, Fielding finds parallels between unfolding events and our own preoccupations." Sounds good. And this means?
The lovers' assignation in a hotel room highlights the deception involved and allows for a telling image after they are discovered in flagrante when Tristan, Isolde and the betrayed husband, King Mark, perch side by side on the end of the bed.
.... Even more powerful is his staging of the imagined childhood of Tristan, as relived in his Act 3 hallucination: the child himself appears, as well as the father and mother he lost..
He liked the end too.
Over at The Stage, Edward Bhesania, seemed to approve of everything, espcially the second act:
"David Fielding’s production for Grange Park Opera serves the latter idea to striking effect in the second act where, during the couple’s passionate tryst, the rather shabby paint-on panelling opens up to reveal a moonlit forest, a potent symbol of angst-ridden love. Here, Tristan (Richard Berkeley-Steele) and Isolde (Alwyn Mellor) declare their devotion to the night, a force which, like the love between them, is all-consuming."
Tristan und Isolde?
And what of our leads: Alwyn Mellor and Richard Berkeley-Steele?
The Stage is dismissive over-all: "Mellor’s violence and frenzy can be compelling but her voice soon becomes forced in the higher reaches, and Berkeley-Steele, by turns stoical and fevered, begins to sound tired by Act III." And: "A more persuasive central couple is needed, though, to lift this into a truly arousing production."
Oh dear. But wait. Over at the Telegraph Rupert Christiansen finds things very different:
"Alwyn Mellor and Richard Berkeley-Steele, in the title roles, possess dramatic voices that they were not afraid to unleash where appropriate. But the proximity of stage to audience did encourage a more nuanced style than we are accustomed to in Wagner, and both singers sang with exemplary diction, betokening an uncommon understanding of the text and a desire to communicate it intelligently and musically"
While Barry Millington said:
"The quality of singing is also high, with Richard Berkeley-Steele and Alwyn Mellor strongly cast as the lovers"
The Orchestra:
"The conductor Stephen Barlow struggled to draw tonal depth out of a small and not notably accomplished orchestra, but they eventually built up an impressive head of dramatic momentum" says the Telegraph, while Millington maintains: "Though its execution is not exactly unblemished, the English Chamber Orchestra under Stephen Barlow stays the course and delivers the climactic moments with frightening intensity." But last word goes to the FT, with the extraordinary, if it were only partly true, observation:
"...in this they were encouraged at every step by the conductor Stephen Barlow, who in his mid-50s is emerging as a treasure of the English opera scene. His is a light-footed, lyrical reading that knows exactly where to place the weight of the music. I cannot remember when I last heard Tristan paced so naturally, the threads of each act drawn into a slow-burn, overwhelming crescendo."
And finally, the rest of the cast:
"Stephen Gadd’s Kurwenal ... Clive Bayley’s Marke .... both, like Sara Fulgoni’s wacky Brangaene, decently sung".
The quality of singing is also high, with Richard Berkeley-Steele and Alwyn Mellor strongly cast as the lovers and Stephen Gadd and Sara Fulgoni as their respective retainers Kurwenal and Brangäne.
"The most impressive vocal performance comes from bass Clive Bayley’s King Mark - transcending his cloth-cap and jeans with a magisterially cavernous tone and cleanly sculpted delivery of the text, as well as touchingly conveying the tragedy of his battle to comprehend Tristan’s mysteriously uncharacteristic betrayal of him."
"Stephen Gadd proved outstanding as Kurwenal – why isn’t this fine baritone a regular at ENO?"
Grange Park Opera are to put on their first (staged) Wagner production - Tristan und Isolde - at this summers festival.
Conductor - Stephen Barlow
Director & Designer - David Fielding
Lighting Design: - Wolfgang Goebbel
King Mark of Cornwall: Clive Bayley
Tristan: Richard Berkeley-Steele
Isolde: Alwyn Mellor
Brangäne: Sara Fulgoni
Kurwenal: Stephen Gadd
Melot: Andrew Rees
A shepherd/a sailor: Richard Roberts
The English Chamber Orchestra
Stephen Fry looks forward to the 2011 Opera Festival at The Grange and discusses Tristan und Isolde, during last years festival.
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Blog beëindigd. Leidmotief verkaste naar Substack, "the home of great
writing". Klik hier Blog discontinued. Leidmotief migrated to Substack,
"the home of ...
Lies
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The truth shall set us free.
Okay, fine, except what happens when the truth is obscured in lies? That
now seems to be the situation in the United States....
Book Review: Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer
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A Review of Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire
1871–1918 by Katja Hoyer
Amazon Kindle eBook edition (the edition used for the revi...
Sleeping Forever Beneath the Dry Earth (Part 5)
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Shostakovich talking with Rudolf Barshai in the early 1970s
And here is the final part of my book. I am really pleased with a lot of
what's in this part ...
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Ligeti, Atmosphères
Wagner, Prelude to Lohengrin Act 1
Berg, Violin Concerto
Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F major
Vienna Philharmonic
Christoph von Dohnányi, ...
El desafío de Werther en Lima
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*La magnífica ópera de Massenet, obra cumbre del romanticismo francés,
llega en una extraordinaria producción de la Ópera de Colombia, para abrir
la Tempo...
Twerp it.
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Review – Salome (English National Opera, Friday 28 September 2018) Salome –
Allison Cook Jokanaan – David Soar Herod – Michael Colvin Herodias – Susan
Bick...
Royal Opera House announces Ring Cycles for 2018!
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Very excited by this announcement. Must start saving now…. ADVANCE
ANNOUNCEMENT Four full cycles performed September–November 2018 The 2018/19
Season open...
continuing as the flying surgeon
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As some of you may have noticed this blog has been inactive the last couple
of years. When I started this blog I worked in Denmark, but in 2011, after
I be...
The Most Terrifying Aria In All Of Opera
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The most terrifying aria in all of opera, or why Mozart stands alone as a
composer of dramma per musica. (Our thanks to The Music...
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*JULES BASTIN, BASSE CHANTANTE*
BASTIN was born in Waterloo in 1933. He was a Belgian operatic bass* who*
made his debut in 1960 at *La Monnaie*, singing ...
Carmen Aldrich
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Carmen at Chorégie d’Orange was TV live broadcast less than two weeks ago.
Contrary to the Puccini operas or the dreaded Verismo repertoire, Carmen is
alwa...
All-Wagner Concert on Friday, May 21
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Please join us for "Exquisite Love Duets and Solos by Richard Wagner," on
Friday, May 21, 2010, at Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music, Cambridge,
Massachu...