Richard Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde DVD

 Keep Your Eyes Shut
This disc manages to be both impressive and infuriating. On the musical side the Metropolitan Opera fields as good an orchestra, conductor and cast as one could expect for the date (not identified by DG but said to be copyrighted in 2001). How Heppner/Eaglen stack up against Melchior/Flagstad or Nilsson/Vickers will always be a matter for debate, but on the current operatic scene it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to match the achievements recorded here in excellent surround sound. The visual aspect is another matter. A fulsome article in the accompanying booklet makes great claims for the 1999 production (‘markedly more contemporary and European…than any of the house’s other current Wagner stagings’), but the writer’s enthusiasm is unlikely to be shared by experienced European operagoers. Many of us will recognise the usual ragbag of producer’s clichés: a predilection for geometric shapes (triangles obviously); startling light changes to signal shifts in mood (screaming orange-red when the lovers swallow the potion); trap doors; miniature buildings and figures; minimalism masquerading as ‘a theatre of the mind’; Kabuki wigs for the men; and so on…. On other DVDs the tiresome effects of this kind of staging are usually mitigated by a general reliance on close-ups. Here, because the best lit part of the stage is at the rear and because the singers frequently advance towards the front in order to project above the orchestra, there are huge stretches where everyone’s face is in shadow. The love duet, given in full, presents us with large black silhouettes against a dark blue background. One can only hope that the electricity savings were not swallowed up by the producer’s fee. Five stars for the musicians (particularly the orchestra and Levine) and none for the picture.
Submitted by theodossin (Bristol, United Kingdom) 
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 Well worth importing
A well sung & produced opera as expected pity it is not available in UK my sincere thanks to CD Universe for supplying this disc will use you again
Submitted by kizmo2288 (United Kingdom) 
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