The first entry in Richard Wagner’s legendary Ring Cycle, considered by the composer to be the “prelude” to the trilogy that follows. On Sebastian Weigle’s account of Wagner’s “Rienzi” on Oehms, The Guardian writes, “his interpretation… has an exhilarating momentum that at times pulls you in – despite yourself.” The two centuries old Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra is one of the great German opera orchestras, with a conducting heritage that includes Louis Spohr and Sir Georg Solti.

This 2012 Frankfurt Opera production of Richard Wagner’s second of four “Ring” operas, Die Walküre, features the Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester led by conductor Sebastian Weigle. The cast of singers includes Frank van Aken as Siegmund, Amber Wagner as Sieglinde, Susan Bullock as Brünnhilde, Terje Stensvold as Wotan, Ain Anger as Hunding and Martina Dike as Fricka. Mr. Weigle is the General Music Director of Frankfurt Opera, a position he’s held since 2008/9.

For all those for whom the heavy Wagnerian voices are too much, OehmsClassics presents a treat with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra and General Music Director Sebastian Weigle - selected orchestral music from the Ring of the Nibelung, tactfully cut together. Some singers can also be briefly heard during excerpts, so as not to endanger the authenticity of the live impression. A compact hour you won't want to miss!

The Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra is one of the most important orchestras in the Germans-peaking world. In 2001 it was selected Orchestra of the Year for the third time in succession in the critics' survey of the specialist journal Opernwelt. Currently they perform as a concert orchestra at the Museum Concerts organized by the Museum Society.

This Frankfurt Opera production of Lohengrin, recorded in 2013, features the Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester led by conductor Bertrand de Billy and the Chor und Extrachor der Oper Frankfurt Chor directed by Matthias Köhler. Tenor Michael König (Lohengrin) is a regular guest at the Frankfurt Opera, previously heard as Tamino (The Magic Flute) and Florestan (Fidelio), amongst other roles. Soprano Camilla Nylund has starred as Elsa in Bayreuth and Finland and will soon tackle the role in Vienna as well.

Following the release of the DVD box in the spring, OehmsClassics now issues the complete Ring from Frankfurt in the well-known design on 14 CDs. This complete version comprises the individual issues of the four operas with the Frankfurt Opera, produced and released during the years 2010-2012. This release is accompanied by a single CD with orchestral music from the Ring.

Creating excitement is the aim of this effective music with it's trombone attacks, bell tolls and horrors, sentimental cantilenas, sweet love duets and the famous overture: never was there the least doubt that Sebastian Weigle with the Frankfurt ensemble would succeed in bringing these off. With Rienzi, Oehms Classics now presents the last of the three operas attributed to the youthful years of Richard Wagner.

Directed by Marcus Richardt. Starring Gregory Frank, Anja Fidelia Ulrich, Jochen Schmeckenbecher.

Tristan: Robert Dean Smith
Marke: Robert Holl
Isolde: Iréne Theorin
Kurwenal: Jukka Rasilainen
Melot: Ralf Lukas
Brangäne: Michelle Breedt
Junger Seemann: Clemens Bieber
Ein Hirt: Arnold Bezuyen
Ein Steuermann: Martin Snell
Bayreuther Festspiele Chorus/Eberhard Friedrich
Bayreuther Festspiele Orchestra/Peter Schneider
Stage Director: Christoph Marthaler
rec. live, Bayreuth Festival, 9 August 2009.
Special Features: include ‘Kinder, macht was Neues!’ The making of Tristan und Isolde.
Video Tracks: 16:9
Audio Tracks: 5.1 DTS Surround, PCM Stereo
Subtitle Tracks: English, French, German, Spanish
OPUS ARTE OA 1033 D [3DVDs: 292:00]

As I reported last year this performance of Tristan und Isolde was chosen for only the second live relay from the ‘Green Hill’ following Die Meistersinger in 2008. Katharina Wagner who now controls Bayreuth alongside her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier, wishes to open up the Festival to a much wider audience. So again the Bayreuth Festival joined forces with the city of Bayreuth and a leading German engineering company, Siemens, to present the Siemens Festival Night. This allowed several thousand people the opportunity of a free event at the Bayreuth Festplatz. In addition, the opera, like last year’s, was available on the Internet.

As I look back on what I wrote last August as the reviewer of this performance I was in no danger (in mid-January) of bright sun shining on my TV screen and creating the problems I had initially with the outdoor showing. I had reported on Christoph Marthaler’s 2005 anti-romantic staging of Tristan und Isolde from the theatre in 2008 and most of what I wrote both then and again last year stands without much significant alteration. The Prelude introduces us to the circles of light that are the light bulbs and the recurring imagery for the ocean liner in which the ‘action’ is set. Katharina Wagner has called Marthaler ‘a master when it comes to staging boredom, standstill and desperation’ though whether this is damning him with faint praise I cannot tell. In his metaphysical interpretation there is little eye contact — or any contact for that matter — between the characters. It must not be forgotten that Katharina had little — if anything — to do with this production as, at the time it was planned, the Festival was solidly in the hands of her father, Wolfgang, and late mother, Gudrun.

As revived here by Anna Sophie-Mahler little does happen in this Tristan und Isolde but Michael Beyer’s direction for TV puts our attention directly onto the faces of the singers and the truth they showed holds the viewer’s attention. In the opera house you are distanced from the facial expression of the singers but here we can focus on crucial small moments to mostly good effect. Iréne Theorin as Isolde is revealed to be quite a stunning actress and her best moment remains near the end of Act I when she is quite deranged at ‘Nun lass uns Sühne trinken!’ Here having drunk the ‘wrong’ potion she is beginning to feel the effect of passion and not her death; she very subtlety undoes her top button and then takes her pulse. Robert Dean Smith, as Tristan, also benefits from the close-ups particularly in his Act III ravings. As before, the other highlights include Michelle Breedt’s concerned Brangäne trying to snatch back the Todestrank from Isolde in Act I, King Marke’s pain at being deceived being etched so clearly on Robert Holl’s craggy features and the passing of the knife that fatally wounds Tristan from Marke on to Melot then Tristan and back to Melot and finally returned into Marke’s hands. Then significantly there is Tristan staring straight at Kurwenal (Jukka Rasilainen) convincing me that his coming back to life in Act III is all in his faithful retainer’s mind. Much of this might be missed if – as a member of the theatre audience – you were looking elsewhere.

The walls of the hold where Tristan is shown ‘lying in state’ look even more mildewed and graffiti-covered in the final Act here on DVD than on the night of the relay. Some moments also still look ridiculous such as Tristan and Kurwenal’s Act I hand gesturing when the latter sings about Lord Morold, though this is not now blown up on a huge 90m² screen.

The sound from my DVD player was reasonably faithful to the live transmission though arguably more vivid than before because of the work of the engineers. The voices sound mostly very even and the orchestra under Peter Schneider’s experience baton seems faultless and perfectly balanced though, as outdoors in August, it still seems a little louder than you would get in the Festspielhaus.

As an extra there is a short backstage self-congratulatory feature entitled ‘Kinder, macht was Neues!’ Sadly this urge by Richard Wagner to future generations to ‘do something new’ has often been taken too literally. Here we get rehearsal footage, comments and a justification for the production by those involved and even a plug for the sponsors, Siemens.

Katharina has stated that she aims to ‘make the Festival accessible to a wide public’ and for ‘a strategy of transparency while setting artistic standards for future interpretations of Wagner and winning new opera fans’. With the long wait for Bayreuth tickets it is now more possible to keep up-to-date with what is going on than ever before. It is no good some critics complaining that things are not what they were at Bayreuth without the Wagnerian, as well as the general opera-loving public, having the evidence to discuss the work going on there. At least the recent two DVD releases, along with the Ring CDs conducted by Thielemann, can only help promote the debate that I am sure Katharina and Eva surely welcome from those distanced from — what the blurb on this Tristan calls — ‘the spiritual home of Wagner’s work’.

This imbues this DVD with an historical importance but it is recommended for so much more — and even though the supporting singers are not the same quality — there are still world-class performances from Iréne Theorin’s committed, radiant Isolde and Robert Dean Smith’s lyrical, inexhaustible Tristan. It is also extremely well conducted by the Bayreuth veteran, Peter Schneider and, together with the two central performances; it is often possible to be transported to a realm far away from the drabness of the stage designs.

— Jim Pritchard, MusicWeb International

Franz Hawlata, Arthur Korn, Michael Volle, Klaus Florian Vogt, Norbert Ernst, Michaela Kaune, and Carola Guber star in this Bayreuth Festival production of the Wagner opera conducted by Sebastian Weigle and directed by Katharina Wagner.

Recorded live at the Festspielhaus, Baden-Baden in June 2006.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Anamorphic.
Sound format: DTS Surround / LPCM Stereo.
Region code: 0 (All Regions).
Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
Running time: 279 minutes.

Bonus Material:

Never Shalt Thou Ask of Me - A documentary film by Reiner E. Moritz, including interviews with Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Stephan Braunfels, Bettina Walter, Kent Nagano and leading members of the cast / Illustrated Synopsis / Cast Gallery.

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As is so often the case with Wagner, we’re suddenly thrown into proceedings that have been evolving for a long time before the opera opens. Who is this young woman Elsa, whom we see prostrate and agonised on an empty stage? How has she come to be in this position? This production cuts straight to the heart of the drama. There’s no need for pseudo-medieval trappings: Elsa’s position is symbolic. She’s the pivot on which the wider forces of Good and Evil rotate. The set is spartan, militaristic in vaguely Cold War terms, which further heightens the tension. The trial keeps us alert because it references things to events in the recent past. Elsa isn’t just a dumb blonde waiting for a knight in shining armour. Nikolaus Lenhoff brings out the stark intensity of the dilemma facing Brabant, or any other society at the crossroads. The simple, elegant set also means that there’s little to distract from the music. I have never understood why people who listen only to recordings “need” naff sets. If it’s really the music they’re after, why clutter the experience with swan costumes and pageantry? It’s not logical. It’s an affectation that doesn’t ring true.

The orchestral playing here is superb, and really deserves the focus it gets in this production. Nagano, with his modernist sensibilities, makes the score shine with clarity and precision. Stretching the tempi might work in more leisurely productions, but not here. This production is powerful because it’s so immediate and alert, and the conducting style is very much a part of the overall concept. Nagano’s sensitivity to the inherent psychological drama in the music makes for very tight shifts of tempo and colour. The orchestra sounds like a powerful beast ready to pounce, held under firm control. Watching Nagano conduct is part of the thrill. He’s animated yet completely at one with his players. The famous Prelude, rising as if from nowhere, from the pit, is beautifully translucent, strings so well blended that the overall effect shimmers. The Vorspiel to Act Three is taken at a prancing pace, the brass packing a punch. Yet, Nagano makes the decorations warm, so it leads naturally into the wedding music. Later, in the Morgenröte, Nagano and his orchestra convey so strongly in sound the images of a sunrise, trumpet alarums, flags unfurling and so on, that the simple, sombre set seems to disappear in the face of the relentless forward thrust of the fanfare.

Perhaps the gentle humour fits with the image of the happy bridegroom so engrossed at the piano that he doesn’t notice his bride approach. He’s not, after all, a red-blooded male but an alien from another realm. It’s a gentle way of exploring the hero’s deeper aspects, without probing too closely into his ultimate inability to connect to a woman. It also makes sense of Elsa’s somewhat histrionic personality, hinted strongly at in the First Act, where she’s an Outsider, too, almost demented with fear. I’ve always had a soft spot for Solveig Kringelborn, having heard her in her first London recital years ago. Hers is not the most perfect of voices, for it has a tendency to sharpen at the lower end. But she can act, infusing what she sings with feeling and character. I’d rather a conflicted Elsa than perfect but remote interpretation. When Lohengrin shouts “Curb your madness!”, you know what he means. Klaus Florian Vogt has a much more classically beautiful voice, as befits a Higher Being. His shiny suit is so badly cut, you realise that it’s deliberate – this fellow is a swan, he isn’t used to wearing a suit, or relating to the messy emotional world of humans. Fortunately, the sheer beauty of Vogt’s ringing, pure tones shines out, dispelling the stiff, formal body language that’s part of the characterisation in this production. The orchestra comes gleaming to the rescue, reinforcing the sense of light and radiance.

Waltraud Meier has portrayed Ortrud so many times she’s made it her territory. She is, of course, excellent. It’s one of those roles where getting older enhances the characterisation, and her voice still easily packs the heft it has always had. In the First and Second Act, she effortlessly steals the thunder from Kringelborn , even though this isn’t her darkest and most inspired portrayal. Curiously, in the end, she appears in a dress that looks more feathery than Lohengrin’s. When she calls out to the forgotten Gods, you wonder if they were animist and primeval, or indeed, if they really are defeated. It’s an intriguing touch, especially when the new Duke is revealed and looks just like a younger version of Vogt, complete with padded suit to mimic Vogt’s solid build. This is no wan stripling. In fact, he’s decidedly swan-like in the sense that swans are stronger than they look. It’s a strikingly Freudian detail, and very thought-provoking.

Tom Fox and Hans-Peter König characterise their roles fully, Fox in particular singing with impressive depth. Telramund is a pivotal figure too, in that he conveys force without intellect, old loyalties that are waylaid by short-term gains. He was the mainstay in the First Act. I do try to warm to Roman Trekel, but he really doesn’t do anything for the Herald, a role that could be a lot less “minor” than it is here.

The documentary “Never shall thou ask of me” is much better than the average bonus film. It’s actually worth watching because it tells a lot about how a production is developed. Lehnhoff doesn’t go for fashion or gags, everything has to fit together logically. Contrary to populist opinion, good directors know the music intimately. Lenhoff describes the Prelude as the “first monochromatic music ever written … the best Philip Glass, you know”. And then there’s a shot of Nagano and the orchestra doing just that. Listening to the singers, in particular to the articulate Tom Fox, is revealing.

-- Anne Ozorio, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray

Richard Wagner
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE

Tristan – Robert Gambill
Isolde – Nina Stemme
Brangäne – Katarina Karnéus
Kruwenal – Bo Skovhus
King Marke – René Pape
Melot – Stephen Gadd
Young Sailor / Shepherd – Timothy Robinson
Steersman – Richard Mosley-Evans

The Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jirí Belohlávek, conductor

Nikolaus Lehnhoff, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne, Lewes, Sussex on 29 July, 1 and 6 August 2007

Bonus:
- Artists biographies
- "On the set" – a slide show of the set being built
-"Trimborn on Tristan" – a talk about the musicological and philosophical backgrounds of Tristan und Isolde.
- A film by Reiner E. Moritz
- Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound formats: DTS 5.1 / LPCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Menu languages: English
Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian
Running time: 350 mins
No. of DVDs: 3

R E V I E W:

WAGNER Tristan und Isolde • Ji?í B?lohlávek, cond; Robert Gambill (Tristan); Nina Stemme (Isolde); Katarina Karnéus (Brangäne); Bo Skovhus (Kurwenal); René Pape (King Marke); Stephen Gadd (Melot); Timothy Robinson (Young Sailor/Shepherd); Richard Mosley-Evans (Steersman); London PO; Glyndebourne Ch • BBC/OPUS ARTE 988 (3 DVDs: 358:00)

& “Trimborn on Tristan, ” a talk; “Do I hear the light?”, a film; slides of set building; artists bios; cast gallery; synopsis Buy Tristan und Isolde From Amazon Tristan und Isolde DVD; Box set BBC / Opus Arte

Wagner’s operas have long attracted the best stage directors but there’s none with more penetrating and revelatory insights than Nikolaus Lehnhoff. Lehnhoff’s Parsifal and Lohengrin, both conducted by Kent Nagano and covered, respectively, in Fanfare issues 29:2 and 30:5, were powerfully involving. His take on Tristan und Isolde, filmed at Glyndebourne in August of 2007, is definitely in the same class.

Lehnhoff’s productions have shown a profound understanding that the success of the composer’s dramas as theater derives from the music itself and no attempt is made to introduce superfluous stagy elements that could distract or annoy. There is not much “action” in Tristan to begin with and, if anything, the director strips things down further. We hear but do not see any crew members on the ship—only the four principals appear during act I (plus Melot, who wordlessly and ominously crosses the stage during the final seconds). Lehnhoff spares us the usual vertiginous side effects that Tristan and Isolde often suffer after consuming the love draught: the couple simply disappears for the several minutes of music preceding their passionate declarations. In his characteristically heady, yet straightforward note in the set’s booklet, Lehnhoff explains, “the setting of this plot is the soul.” He describes the staging as “concrete and instrumental.” The shepherd doesn’t pretend to play a pipe during the long English horn solo and, when Tristan challenges Melot at the close of act II, he literally pulls his opponent’s sword into his midsection so there’s no question of his suicidal intent.

Nina Stemme, of course, was the Isolde for Plácido Domingo’s high-profile Tristan a few years ago. Along with Deborah Voigt, she should be delivering wonderful representations of this character for years to come. Stemme inhabits the role: her forceful defense to Brangäne of the path she’s taken, at the beginning of act II, is no less spirited than the desperate fury of her outbursts in act I; Isolde is still the same woman she was before the potion. Her voice is rich and full, almost plush, coherent from a confident top to an earthy bottom, and she communicates the layers of meaning of her texts wonderfully. The “Liebestod,” which the soprano has described as “a song from space,” provides the release and resolution necessary for the preceding three-and-a-half hours to be worth the emotional investment by a listener. Robert Gambill, who sang a very impressive Siegmund for Lothar Zagrosek (on Naxos CDs and Euroarts or Tdk DVDs) is not among the most elite of current Heldentenors, singers like Ben Heppner or Peter Seifert. But thanks to the exceptionally intelligent use of his not-inconsequential instrument and knowing support from Ji?í B?lohlávek in the pit, Gambill succeeds admirably, even when Stemme isn’t around in act III. The hesitancy with which he queries Kurwenal about his circumstances when he first comes to in Brittany lets us know what kind of shape Tristan is in. What follows fully communicates the hero’s physical and psychic pain, even if the raw agony of a Jon Vickers can’t be duplicated. In act II, Gambill’s response to Marke’s long speech (“Wohin nun Tristan scheidet, wilst du, Isold’, ihm folgen?”) is a highlight of his performance.

As Brangäne, Katarina Karnéus is outstanding, palpably conflicted about her responsibilities to her mistress. She’s a terrific singing actress who makes her scene with Stemme in the second act memorably compelling. Some will find Bo Skovhus’s voice a little light for Kurwenal but he, too, does the job from a dramatic standpoint. René Pape is the Wagnerian bass of his generation, presenting King Marke with dignity and a sense of hurt that’s very moving. B?lohlávek assures a worthy orchestral contribution from the venerable London ensemble. Act I’s Prelude is taken at a languorous tempo and the timings for acts I and III are on the long side, though not grotesquely so, by any means.

Picture quality is superb—a Blu-ray release would be most welcome—and the sound, both PCM Stereo and DTS Surround, has gratifying weight and detail. The multichannel version offers a luxuriant but natural spaciousness. In surround, Brangäne’s voice in act II and the English horn solos in act III have a disembodied quality that seems apt. Subtitles are offered in English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian.

In addition to the usual plot synopsis and “cast gallery,” Opus Arte provides two substantial “extras” which are responsible for this set’s running time of close to six hours. The first is a short film by Reiner E. Moritz (it’s 56 minutes in duration) entitled “Do I hear the light?” made at Glyndebourne. There are shots of some awfully privileged-appearing operagoers enjoying picnic dinners and champagne on the Glyndebourne lawn but also and more important, commentary from the principal singers, conductor, and others. Not surprisingly, it’s Nikolaus Lehnhoff who is the most interesting, expressing himself on camera as epigrammatically as he does in print. (“Dying to live is the device of love.”) Mostly, the feature serves to show that everyone was truly on the same page when it came to an understanding of Tristan, which was surely a key factor in the great success of this performance.

The second extra feature is a talk from the keyboard by the German musicologist Richard Trimborn that relates specific musical aspects of the opera to philosophical, psychological, and biographical issues. Trimborn clearly knows a lot about Wagner, and his discourse will be a treat for those already possessing some background on the composer’s life and work. For the completely uninitiated, the lecture may be a little hard to keep up with as the scholar jumps all over the place, touching on Schopenhauer, Gottfried von Strassburg, Buddhism, Mozart, Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Carlos Kleiber, the druids—among much else. Clearly, Trimborn could have gone on for hours.

So, this Tristan und Isolde deserves the highest recommendation. Among DVDs, I’d pick it over Levine, Barenboim, Jordan, or De Billy. (An amazing Vickers/Nilsson/Böhm set on Kultur is very much a specialty item because of dim monaural sound and grainy picture quality.) This Opus Arte release isn’t a bad choice at all for those looking to acquire their first video Tristan.

Fanfare: Andrew Quint

Classical Music