Tristan und Isolde
by Patrizia Carmine
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Gerd Grochowski, Ian Storey, Matti Salminen, Michelle DeYoung, Waltraud MeierDirector: Patrizia Carmine
Cinematographer: Riccardo de Poli
Producer: Erica Vitellozzi
Writer: Richard Wagner
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 257 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Virgin Classics
Movie Reviews of Tristan und Isolde
Movie Review: Magnificent evening at La Scala
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an overwhelming occasion in nearly every sense, a massive triumph. That we can now have a TRISTAN to be such is no small accomplishment.
First off, the sets, costumes. It is in neo-realistic style, with big stone walls and forbidding grays, blacks and dark colors. The singers are all dressed, refugee-style, long overcoats, shifts. It's not bad, but it still looks too modern (for me) of a tale that's set in "Legendary" times. To be sure, this is far more human, accessible approach than the abstracted remove of the Glyndebourne production; but a more romantic setting is needed for Act 2 (my opinion) to complement the luxuriant, sensual splendor of the central love duet. My number 1 choice for an overall concept in terms of matching mood to music is Ponnelle's, in the 1983 film from Bayreuth. Once you've seen it, you can't forget Johanna Meier and Rene Kollo under that huge, discreetly-dotted-lighted tree, on their knees, facing each other, with a gentle breeze wafting through. Wih this visual, bathed in that sensual music, it exactly captures that lushly romantic, mystical otherworldliness the music asks for.
What makes this production work so well is the direction of Patrice Chereau. Chereau rejected directing Tristan for years, because, as he put it, it was too much like a "radio play" - best heard, not seen. But having accepted it, he very much creates a moving, unstatic drama where there is action and movements as a consequence of the music and words. Everything has a specificity and purpose, and they're all done with unerring dramatic skill and taste. Best of all, Chereau gets performances out of these artists, and there's a real collaboration where the singers don't suffer in sacrifice to the directorial vision. He both abets and frees them, allows them to be natural.
Barenboim's conducting. I cannot authoritatively elaborate about speeds, and the orchestral "interpretation" and such, but for what it's worth, the music sounded drop-dead beautiful to me. The Scala orchestra has never sounded so texturally gorgeous, everything so pristine and brilliant, conversely sonorous when it needs to be. Best of all though, he rarely swamps the singers, and guides them through deftly.
The casting is from strength, all the way down to the secondary roles. Grochowski's Kurwenal is strong-voiced, and physically adept, and he really is a fitting catalyst for Tristan in the third act. Michelle DeYoung's Brangaene is simply outstanding, in a long line of unheralded protaganistas in the role. She sings without any strain, in long-breathed phrases with true musianship and a shining, freely emitted tone. Matti Salminen - here he is, 25 years after being captured in the Ponnelle/Bayreuth film, sounding much the same, barring only a few minor patches of dryness of tone. Amazing. His restrained implacability is as toweringly menacing as ever; yet the hurt and anger come through with a reserve that indicates a seething interior. That we have Pape, the newer Marke, and Salminen, the established veteran, in this role is an unparalleled luxury.
If there is a better matched pair of lovers today than Ian Storey and Waltraud Meier, I haven't seen them yet. Vocally, physically and histrionically, they embody the lovers to the hilt. Simply put, it would be hard to watch Eaglen and Heppner after these two (sorry, but they are so naggingly uncomfortable and restricted).
Storey is a new name to me. He is a big, burly bear of a man, tall, and ruggedly handsome. His masculine bearing is the perfect counterpoint to the lithe, feminine Meier (this is the most attractive, romantic pair you'll see). The voice may divide some. It matches the 'burly" description - a large, baritonal sound. Typical of a lot of "baritonal" Heldentenor-types, it is not especially brilliant or free on top, but neither is it unduly strained. There's a steady flutter to the tonal output, but not a wobble at all; a bit of a grain to it, not meltingly beautiful, but powerful, steady, outpouring. And what an actor. Responsive to Chereau's direction and the sagacity of his leading lady, his performance is like a tidal wave of power and emotion. Storey completely submerges himself into Act 3, where he gives and gives of unspeakable intensity, while never tiring vocally. The camera captures his face, sweating profusely and his raw physicality swept into the drama; talk about immersion. The unflagging energy and passion is almost frightening; it is, all told, an overwhelming portrayal.
The best for last - Meier's Isolde. The best since the previous Meier, Johanna. When I read a decade and a half ago that Meier would be undertaking Isolde, I was extremely doubtful. She was billed as a mezzo when I first heard her; it was in the Barenboim Verdi Requiem recording. I distinctly recall being unconvinced by Meier. At that time, as a mezzo, she was to me unsteady in the middle, and pushed on top. Most mezzos who have sung the Verdi Requiem have fat, solid, substantial middles; Meier did not. I'm lead to believe, then, that Meier was never really a mezzo, but a true soprano. Here as Isolde, her upper middle is far freer and expressive than her lower-middle (but now that sounds better because she's not sitting on it); but her top sounds better to me now than it did years ago. The result of singing Isolde - and others - with a higher teessitura - has freed her voice into the proper category?
Let it stand that pitch and placement wise, there are a few ( and I DO mean literally, 'few') suspect notes. But, given that the percentage rate of failure and trouble that has plagued this role, Meier's assumption is a complete success - triumph, magnificent, to be more specific.
Vocally, she has all the qualifications. A smoothness of emission. The ability to contour phrases. To sing softly without it becoming constricted. An ability to sing forte with a good measure of freedom. The ability to tailor, bend, expand, straighten out the tone according to the color of the words related to the music. To sing a true legato without it being pushed, and to last all night long without developing a crab in the tonal output. Proponents of Leider, Flagstad, Nilsson may argue plausibly that Meier is a more on the lyrical side of dramatic than is ideal; but those ladies ain't around. And Barenboim has thoughtfully given her voice the aural cushioning it needs.
Best of all though, her portrayal is a totality in itself. It is hard to imagine any Isolde so physically convincing, free and unfettered. Long years of performing this role has given her a spontaneity so that every move, every line is organically woven into her interpretation. There is not a false move anywhere, not a moment where she could be said to be floundering. She is a joy to watch. A beautiful woman, she moves like a dancer. This is a singing actress in every sense of the word, neither one taking precedence nor sacrificing the other. How often does one find the "compleat artistry"?
Every facet of isolde is realized, you get the whole gamut, the whole story. The ultimate catharsis and resolution in Meier's extraordinary "Mild und Leise" is almost too much: when she intones those first lines, the sheer radiance of her singing produces something of an intoxicatingly ethereal, almost shocking sense of release. In this context to what has followed before, "Mild und Leise" is a stroke of genius on Wagner's part - a real delaying of gratification if ever there was one. You realize that, excerpted in concert, it has not nearly as much of an emotional wallop than if it caps the opera in toto.
The explosion of applause toward the performers by the Scala audience is a fitting close to a momentous occasion.
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