New Tristan und Isolde DVD announced

[uffeviking]

I currently have this in my Amazon shopping cart.  Am I to assume from the lack of anyone referencing it here that it's not good?

On the contrary! It's the very first recording of the opera I bought. It's a 1983 LVD and I like it very much. Barenboim is an excellent Wagner conductor and since it is from Bayreuth you know the orchestra is the best. If you have not yet clicked your amazon shopping cart 'buy' button, you can do it and won't be disappointed. 

[duncan]

Eurotrash, yes or no?

Yes and no!  Naturalistic costumes, symbolic settings.  A bit like Weiland Wagner's 1950s productions.

I was lucky enough to see this production last summer and saw the film in a recent cinema screening.  I'm trying to review the film, but I might be reviewing the live event and this Tristan was one of my greatest experiences in 20 or so years of going to the opera.  The set in the picture above is the same thoughout, but the lighting is very imaginative and provides most of the animation, not least in the final scene where it complements the music ideally.  Stage movement and acting is similarly symbolic and minimal but I thought this worked pretty well on film.  Occasionally the closeups were a bit tight and sweaty for my taste.  Jiří Bělohlávek's conducting doesn't whip up excitement when it's not indicated: the prelude seemed underpowered at first, but the true climaxes have all the impact they require.  The vocal stars were Nina Stemme's Isolde and René Pape as King Marke; Robert Gambill is an adequate Tristan, about as good as we get these days.  The whole experience was greater than the sum of it's parts, the cumulative effect is very moving and fully deserves the rave reviews the live shows got.

It would be fair to warn traditionalists that I can enjoy directors opera as well liking Bavarian kitsch like The Met.'s Meistersingers!

I will be buying the DVD when it comes out, but I think you guessed that...

[head-case]

Clearly the set symbolizes being inside a colossal vagina.

[marvinbrown]

Clearly the set symbolizes being inside a colossal vagina.

  You could be on to something here head-case, in a Wagner documentary Prof. John Deathridge, supposedly a Wagner expert claimed that Tristan und Isolde was quite scandalous in its time as the music was perceived to be.....oh, what was the word he used.............. "ORGASMIC"- seems to tie in with your observation of that set design.

  marvin

[gmstudio]

On the contrary! It's the very first recording of the opera I bought. It's a 1983 LVD and I like it very much. Barenboim is an excellent Wagner conductor and since it is from Bayreuth you know the orchestra is the best. If you have not yet clicked your amazon shopping cart 'buy' button, you can do it and won't be disappointed. 

Ah. Excellent.

Am currently enjoying the Bareuth Parsifal (also on DG DVD) w/ Jerusalem, conducted by Horst Stein.

[uffeviking]

Ah! Excellent! It's staged and directed by Wolfgang Wagner, so superior to the Met's Otto Schenk farce with Jerusalem sitting in the tulip patch wearing his nightie! 

[head-case]

Ah! Excellent! It's staged and directed by Wolfgang Wagner, so superior to the Met's Otto Schenk farce with Jerusalem sitting in the tulip patch wearing his nightie! 

The set is perhaps superior, but Maestro Stein was asleep at the wheel, so to speak.

[uffeviking]

head-case: Have you seen either of those two productions? 

[head-case]

head-case: Have you seen either of those two productions? 

Both (on DVD).   I can't say either one is satisfying.  I think the problem is that I don't find Parsifal particularly interesting.  It's the usual Wagnerian theme that the main character wants to do the right thing, despite having a hard on for some fairy nymph types.  But in Parsifal the music is tepid and the sensuality is much less convincing here than in other works.

[marvinbrown]

On the contrary! It's the very first recording of the opera I bought. It's a 1983 LVD and I like it very much. Barenboim is an excellent Wagner conductor and since it is from Bayreuth you know the orchestra is the best. If you have not yet clicked your amazon shopping cart 'buy' button, you can do it and won't be disappointed. 

  Lis I wonder if you would be kind enough to answer some quick questions for me.  Regarding the above recording which you have seen, I have been reading that there is a twist in the ending- namely it does not end the way Wagner intended for it to end.  I can not find any information on its ending- I was wondering if you could shed some light on this.  Have they changed the text (verses) in this production? Has any alteration been made to the music?

  PS:  I am asking this question because I am reconsidering purchasing it.

  marvin

[uffeviking]

Marvin, I would be glad to answer your questions but it's early in the morning where I live! 

I shall watch the ending on my LVD after the usual morning chores and tell you all about it. Right now, I do not remember anything unusual about the ending, but of course I do not have the score, nor would I be able to read it if I had it. Marvin, I am not a musician just an opera lover! 

[Wendell_E]

I haven't seen it, but I don't think they made any actual textual changes.  I know at first Ponelle wanted Johanna Meier to sing the Liebestod (or, more properly, the Verwandlung) from the orchestra pit, but Meier put her foot down and put a stop to that idea.

I did find a review at amazon.com that says "the ending is all a dream as Tristan suffers his dying moments without the presence of his beloved Isolde. What a betrayal of Wagner's intent.", but then concludes: "Otherwise, the production is a masterpiece. Buy it. You won't regret it!"

Our local stores don't have a lot of opera DVDs, but one does have this one.  I've come close to buying it a couple of times.  I'm sure I'll break down eventually.

[marvinbrown]

Marvin, I would be glad to answer your questions but it's early in the morning where I live! 

I shall watch the ending on my LVD after the usual morning chores and tell you all about it. Right now, I do not remember anything unusual about the ending, but of course I do not have the score, nor would I be able to read it if I had it. Marvin, I am not a musician just an opera lover! 

  No worries Lis.  I think Wendell_E gave me the answer I was looking for.  Sorry to trouble you.

  marvin

[marvinbrown]

I haven't seen it, but I don't think they made any actual textual changes.  I know at first Ponelle wanted Johanna Meier to sing the Liebestod (or, more properly, the Verwandlung) from the orchestra pit, but Meier put her foot down and put a stop to that idea.

I did find a review at amazon.com that says "the ending is all a dream as Tristan suffers his dying moments without the presence of his beloved Isolde. What a betrayal of Wagner's intent.", but then concludes: "Otherwise, the production is a masterpiece. Buy it. You won't regret it!"

Our local stores don't have a lot of opera DVDs, but one does have this one.  I've come close to buying it a couple of times.  I'm sure I'll break down eventually.

  Thanks Wendell_E for that response.  It will do just fine.  I had this terrible thought that they might have rewritten the ending, revamped the music.  I thought they might have saved Tristan and had Tristan and Isolde live happily ever after....that would have ruined the opera for me, this is a tragedy after all.  I admire your resolve for resisting to buy it, I think at this point I have broken under the pressure (remember this is my favorite opera and I need no encouragement to "click" that "proceed to checkout" button on amazon.co.uk  .


  marvin

[uffeviking]

Sorry to trouble you.

  marvin

Marvin, you didn't trouble me at all, I am always glad to help, if I can. I am sure you'll enjoy your DVD as soon as you receive it, and then many more times.

Now if you want to discover how another director views this Wagner opera, you might give a try the performance at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Armin Jordan conducting, and directed by Olivier Py. What is so unusual of his interpretation is the definitive and expressive role he gives to König Marke, sung beautifully by Alfred Reiter.

No hurry, Marvin, just a tiny seed I am planting into your mind. - May it prosper! 

[max]

I wish producers would become serious about opera animations for which Wagner's operas would be especially suited, the lip movements of the created characters synchronized to voices who know how to interpret Wagner. The possibilities are endless in presenting background and singers the way they were meant to be.

If it's possible to create a 'Lord of the Rings' production why not a Ring, Tristan or Parsifal the way it was meant to be visualized. Such productions would actually enhance the singer's art not unlike the 'special effects' which magnify the actor's performance.

[head-case]

If it's possible to create a 'Lord of the Rings' production why not a Ring, Tristan or Parsifal the way it was meant to be visualized. Such productions would actually enhance the singer's art not unlike the 'special effects' which magnify the actor's performance.

The number of people who would be interested in such a Wagner production could never justify the resources necessary to produce it.

[max]

The number of people who would be interested in such a Wagner production could never justify the resources necessary to produce it.

...can't argue with that! But I wonder if a really excellent production were made along those lines, whether it couldn't actually create a market for more of the same. The visual and the aural enhancing each other compared to a stage production where most singers, if not their voices, get in the way especially in appearance. Some of them look really pathetic compared to their roles!

[Lethevich]

...can't argue with that! But I wonder if a really excellent production were made along those lines, whether it couldn't actually create a market for more of the same. The visual and the aural enhancing each other compared to a stage production where most singers, if not their voices, get in the way especially in appearance. Some of them look really pathetic compared to their roles!

Money could certainly be saved by licencing an existing performance (preferably a good one ) rather than recording one from scratch.

[marvinbrown]

I wish producers would become serious about opera animations for which Wagner's operas would be especially suited, the lip movements of the created characters synchronized to voices who know how to interpret Wagner. The possibilities are endless in presenting background and singers the way they were meant to be.

If it's possible to create a 'Lord of the Rings' production why not a Ring, Tristan or Parsifal the way it was meant to be visualized. Such productions would actually enhance the singer's art not unlike the 'special effects' which magnify the actor's performance.

  With regards to opera animations I do not think I would be interested in a Ring Cycle with animated  "cartoon like" characters with lip movements synchronized to voices.  However if a Der Ring des Nibelungen were to be produced/directed as a big budget Hollywood style film (similar to the Lord of the Rings) where the principal characters are played by the actual singers dressed in costumes and makeup and the special effects in the style of the Lord of the rings are incorporated then I would definitely be interested in that (Its been done with the opera movies of Strauss' Elektra (Bohm-DG) and Salome (Bohm-DG) with tremendous success). I wouldn't even mind if the singers moved their lips to their synchronized voices. I think its time for Wagner's operas to get a makeover as well. In brief, I agree with you max in principal, I just do not want to see the Ring Cycle and other operas turned into "cartoons".

  marvin