Spiked potion - Frank Martin Le vin herbé WNO

Frank Martin Le vin herbé starts today at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff before going on tour.   From the synopsis, you'd think it was Tristan und Isolde, Martin's Le vin herbé is spiked, with a twist.  Martin's oratorio profane is an alternative to the extremes of Wagnerian excess.  Martin, a Swiss national, could hardly have been unaware of what was happening in Germany, and of the Nazi appropriation of Wagner. Le vin herbé represents a completely different antithesis to the Tristan und Isolde cult and to the aesthetic of Third Reich Bayreuth.

Martin had been reading Le roman de Tristan et Iseult, a 1900 romance by French medievalist Joseph Bédier, who based his work on early French sources of the legend, striving to "eradicate inconsistencies, anachronisms, false embellishments,and never to mix our modern conceptions with ancient forms of thought and feeling". By "modern", Bédier meant 1900, when Bayreuth's version dominated public taste. Martin's Le vin herbé is restrained, the very simplicity of its form connecting to the aesthetic of the Middle Ages.
 
Martin doesn't write pastiche medievalism though.  Le vin herbé is scored for chamber choir and orchestra, so the palette is clean and pure, "modern" in the sense that Martin was writing in the late 1930's, when many French and German composers used medieval subjects as metaphors for modern times. Martin  used dodecaphony to open up and refine tonality, and add subtle lustre and mystery.  The role of the choir is important. Just as in a Greek Chorus, the choir comments on events, creating distance from the frenzied fevers of the  herbal concoction which Tristan and Iseult imbibe. In a departure from medieval form, the choir sings in unison, not polyphony, so the words they sing are part of the drama rather than decoration for decoration's sake. Soloists sometimes sing alone, sometimes with the chorus, and chorus members sing solo parts. It's as if the voices emerge and retreat into background tapestry.

There are only eight instruments in the orchestra, all strings (3v, 2va 2vc cb) with piano. Just as the voices emerge from the choir, solo instruments emerge from the opera at critical  moments; the contrabass and celli reinforcing  Tristan's part. The cantilenas for solo violin are exquisite, operating as an ethereal extra voice, commenting without words. The piano provides a measured counter to the fervent, passionate heartbeat when the strings surge in unison, marking the moment when Iseult and Tristan drink the potion and fall in love. Martin was working on Le Philtre before he even received a commission for the full work.

Tristan and Iseult are joined together in a drugged state, beautiful but ultimately fatal. They run off to live in the forest of Morois,where King Marke find them but spares them. Tristan escapes and after three years in a foreign land marries the evil Iseult of the White Hands. He's injured in battle  by a poison-tipped lance. Now the piano tolls like a bell, and the violin melody soars as if it were stretching across the seas in search of Iseult, mounting frenzy in the orchestra and chorus, and Iseult bursts in with a wild "Hélas ! chétive, hélas !",  the strings swirling around her turbulently.  Tristan is dead but Iseult lies down by Tristan "body to body, mouth to mouth".  We don't get a Mild und Liese, but there's some mighty fine writing for the orchestra and other voices. In an Epilogue, the choir sets out the moral of the story,  perhaps when the effects of the drug wear off, Tristan and Iseult find the true meaning of love. "Puissant-ils trouver ici consolation contre l'inconstance,  contre l'injustice, contre le dépit,  contre le pein, contre tous les maux d'amour"

Martin's Le vin herbé is by no means a rarity. There was a major staging last year, in Berlin, with Anna Prohaska.  There are two recordings. the first from 1960 with the composer himself at the piano, and more recently, the recording with Sandrine Piau, with the RIAS Kammerchor conducted by Daniel Reuss: both indispensable, and both very different. How the WNO production will compare, I don't know.

Le vin Herbé is very different from Martin's larger-scale works like Golgotha and Der Sturm, but it is an insight into an important but neglected period in music history. Understand Le vin herbé and you get a key into Poulenc, Honegger, Hartmann, Orff, and Braunfels.  It also connects to the literature and visual arts, including film, of the time. I discovered Frank Martin by sheer accident, hearing Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (1942/3) another "medieval" piece with a modern twist.  Please read my other posts on Wagner Tristan und Isolde,  especially "More tradition than meets the eye" and THIS about the Christof Loy Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House. There's much more to the opera than fake medieval costumes.Think about characterization, and the characters as human beings in a dramatic setting.

Thielemann's Tristan und Isolde, Bayreuth

Christian Thielemann's Tristan und Isolde is powerfully demonic. When I heard it broadcast audio-only, the orchestral playing mesmerized: so stunningly deep and expressive that  visuals were hardly relevant. Thankfully, the production supports Thielemann's interpretive insight. Read Philip Henscher's article The old-fashioned greatness of Christian Thielemann, a review of the conductor's book, My Life with Wagner. Not many conductors are good writers - it's not their job - but Thielemann's commitment seems to come through. Good stagings illuminate music and meaning, not external incidentals. Was this a production led by the conductor, not the director, Katharina Wagner?  It's not for nothing that Thielemann has been named the first non-family Music Director at Bayreuth. 

The Prelude to Act One unfolds with a pulse as strong as the tides.  The camera pans over abstract shapes, darkness interspersed by light. The Young Sailor's voice calls out from the darkness "Westwärts schweift der Blick".  Shrouded in mystery,we have to find our bearings. Listen to the orchestra, and hear the ocean heave and surge.  This gives  tension to the contrast with the mechanical, maze-like structure on stage, which may represent the inner workings of the human mind. Isolde (Evelyn Herlitzius) bristles with rage at her predicament: a powerful, healing queen reduced to a trophy of war. Tristan (Stephen Gould) appears in the network of metallic bridges and stairs. His presence reminds of the circumstances in which Tristan and Isolde met, explaining the intensity of Isolde's agony. If Herlitzius's timbre is squally in this Act, this fits the situation. At the end, her Liebestod is a triumph of steely resolve, tempered by anguish.  Christa Mayer's Brangäne is a softer more conventional figure, but again, this is a valid characterization. Isolde wants death and murder, but Brangäne represents a gentler ethos. I thought of wise old Hans Sachs, and "Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!"

The orchestral playing is, again, a key to the interpretation of the Second Act. We don't see the ocean, but we hear it swirling invisibly, all the more malevolent for that. The tides are controlled by the moon, an impersonal, sinister force, but one which gives Tristan and Isolde the cover of nightfall in which to proclaim their feelings. Gould and Herlitizius sit under a tent (a bit like a canopy over a bed) and play with star shapes sparkling with electrical light. We know that Tristan never felt free as a child, and quite possibly neither did Isolde. So if they marvel at fragile tricks of light with the innocence of children, who are we to sneer? For me, this enhanced the overall tragedy.  There aren't all that many good Tristans around, so we should cherish Stephen Gould, who sang the part last year in London, and has Tannhäuser, Siegfried and Erik in his repertoire, plus an extremely sympathetic Paul in Die tote Stadt. He's a big man with the heft in his voice to create these roles, yet also the ability to express the vulnerability integral to their true portrayal. Tristan is a hero to everyone around him, but not to himself.  Like so many ultra-macho action men, he hides self-destructive urges. Perhaps Death by Melot isn't an accident. The orchestra hovers over the love scenes like a demonic presence, haunting  the lyrical raptures. Gould and Herlitzius can play with stars but the stars will control their fate. 

In Kareol, almost absolute darkness reigns. The Shepherd's Flute sings its mournful yet oddly seductive song. Wagner defines the different stages of Tristan's delirium. Gould and Thielemann mark the changes sensitively. Gould's voice glows heroically. This is Tristan's greatest battle, and Gould's singing is well up to the challenge. Very impressive. Yet we know he's dying, for he "sees" a vision of Isolde before him as he sings. At the end, blood pours from the mannequin, but by then Tristan is too far gone to notice. Iain Paterson's Kurnewal is firmly sung and characterized, emphasizing by contrast the Wahn that overtakes Tristan. The rapport between Gould and Paterson is musically crucial, for Tristan quietly begins to expire as Kurnewal's voice strengthens. Tristan rallies as he hears the ship in the orchestra, which Thielemann conducts with such fervour that we can almost see it too. When the surge subsides, Gould sings that last "Isolde!" and dies, wreathed in the gentle sounds of the harp. 

This tenderness is important. In this staging, Kurnewal covers Tristan's body with a cross and lilies, a beautiful moment, throwing Isolde's heart-rending grief into even higher profile. Yet again, the contrast between two spheres of reality is painfully poignant. King Marke (Georg Zeppenfeld) and his knights arrive, in glowing shades of gold.  Tristan's dead, Kurnewal is dying and Isolde's overwhelmed.  "Tod denn, alles. Alles tod" Zeppenfeld sings. "Wahn, Wahn, uberall Wahn!" all over again, and so sad. As the Liebestod begins, Herlitzius moves towards Gould's inert body, and tries to raise him, literally, from the dead.  In the music, we hear transfiguration, for in Isolde's mind she is again one with Tristan, on a different plane of existence, no longer "of this world".  "Mild and Liese", the happiness of release and transformation.  In an act of kindness, Marke takes the "living" Isolde by the hand, much as one comforts the grieving at a time of trauma, and leads her away. Will she ever return to the "real" world? Will she live on or die? Maybe she'll whip up other potions, but one thing's for sure. She's not baking cupcakes in domestic bliss. Brangäne stands over Tristan's body, thinking "Why?" As so should we. This ending made me think of the ending in Parsifal, with its message of compassion. "Gesegnet sei dein Leiden, das Mitleids höchste Kraft und reinsten Wissens Macht dem zagen Toren gab"

In the film, Thielemann is seen wearing a red polo shirt. At first I thought, it's been mighty hot in Europe this year, but now I wonder if the choice of colour might not have been deliberate. Although the set is dark, the singers are clothed in luminous jewel-like colours, blue, green and gold. (He switches to a black shirt for his bows.) Perhaps Thielemann's red shirt brings him into the picture, so to speak, for this is very much "his" production. He has always been a brilliant Wagner conductor but this Tristan und Isolde is extraordinarily strong musically, and accesses the infernal, demonic depths of the drama. If Thielemann's politics aren't acceptable, it's also not acceptable to destroy a person because you don't like what he thinks. Heed the music.

LISTENING LINK Thielemann's devastating Tristan und Isolde Bayreuth

The 2015 Bayreuth Festival opened Saturday with Tristan und Isolde, devastating well conducted by Christian Thielemann.  It was broadcast live on many European stations, but now can be heard again on repeat HERE.    Orchestrally, it reaches very deep into the inner spirit of the opera. It's as if the ocean is singing along, its tides controlled by malevolent cosmic forces. This connects to the sense of curse that haunts Tristan, doomed before he was even born. Tristan und Isolde isn't about colourful tapestries and fake medievalism. It's not a romance. Tristan and Isolde didn't date. Their passion, triggered by a potion, is so intense that it transcends everything rationl. This is a cosmic drama of the human soul. This is a performance to remember. Absolutely recommended ! Please read my initial review HERE - the more I listen, the more I'm getting from listening.

Bayreuth 2015 Tristan und Isolde Thielemann

PLEASE SEE MY FULL REVIEW HERE    The 2015 Bayreuth Festival began today with Wagner  Tristan und Isolde. A devastatingly brilliantt orchestral performance  with Christian Thielemann at the helm, a term I use deliberately because it really felt as though the music was centre stage, expressed by a conductor who really understands what Wagner is about, his darkness and his light.  I think that, on some level, a good Wagner conductor needs dark corners in his soul to really interpret Wagner with depth. That's what made Furtwängler great. Cuddly and cute doesn't necessarily make for good art.  If Thielemann's politics aren't acceptable, it's also not acceptable to destroy a person because you don't like what he thinks. Losing Berlin has probably taught him not to use his position wrongly. Thieilemann seemed to be pouring his heart into this performance. The turmoil in the Third Act, the poisonous seduction in the Shepherd's flute, the anguish that wells up, as if the ocean  was echoing Tristan's deathwish, all slightly demonic, but well within the nature of the opera. Truly cosmic. The extremes of love and death aren't "romantic in the Hollywood sense, however much some audiences might prefer, but part of the fervour of the Romantiker movement.


The livestream is over, but HERE IS A LISTENING LINK on repeat broadcasst

Stephen Gould sang a good Tristan. The edge to his voice added greatly to the characterization of the role. Tristan is a hero to everyone, but not to himself.  The potion raises his hopes. Perhaps he won't die alone, after all. But even in love, he's haunted. I was transfixed by his long, last monologue.. Evelyn Herlitzius was a good Isolde . The forcefulness in her voice brought out Isolde's strength and fearlessness. . For all her healing powers, Isolde cannot save him, but must transcend life itself. Iain Paterson sang a nice rounded Kurnewal, straight guy to tormented Tristan. Georg Zeppenfield, another Bayreuth regular, sang King Marke. I only heard the audio, so can't comment on the staging. But Thielemann's conducting was so stunningly vivid.that it didn't matter a bit. Bayreuth has really struck gold.

 Listen to an interview with Thielemann here.

Analyzed not demonized - Tristan und Isolde Royal Opera House

Wagner Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House, first revival of the 2009 production – one of the first to attract widespread hostility even before the curtain rose on the first night. Modern costumes seems to attract extreme hatred. But does the meaning of a great drama lie in fancy external trappings? Tristan und Isolde is immortal because it is universal, based on a legend which in itself has developed over the centuries. Wagner used his creative imagination.  Have we lost the ability to think, feel and dream that we cannot cope with  opera unless it is as literal as TV costume drama?  Throughout the opera, we hear the pulse of the oceans, and can imagine the pull of the forces of nature and fate that operate beyond what we see on the surface. So, too, should we approach Tristan und Isolde as a work with such depth that it would be against the very nature of art to deny its many different levels of meaning.

Isolde is a captive, a trophy of war turned trophy wife. She's inside an elegant structure, but trapped, away from the elements of nature in which she once thrived as a practitioner of powerful healing arts. King Marke's court celebrate victory with a feast. Isolde walks out, to be alone. She does not belong in that milieu. Throughout this staging, directed by Christof Loy and designed by Johannes Leiacker, curtains and flat walls define the divisions between different worlds. For all the bustle of court, the key protagonists are alone, figures who don't thrive by conforming to social mores. Tristan would seem to have everything: he's a hero, loved by most, who might have a happy future, but that's not what he wants. The stark divisions of the set emphasize this anomie; strong planes and angles overpowering the figures on stage, throwing their predicaments, literally, into sharp relief.

Hence the shadows. Throughout the opera, Wagner emphasizes contrasts between darkness and light.  Since shadows are created by darkness and light, they are a far more subtle expression of music and meaning than costumes can ever be. The lighting (Olaf Winter) spotlights the singers and throws their shadows back against the hard walls in silent rebellion against larger, impenetrable forces.  Sometimes the shadows are huge, compelling attention. Sometimes they shrink, sometimes they interact with the shadows of other members of the cast. The shadows suggest emotional states which words cannot express. Tellingly, they often reflect details in the orchestra. In King Marke's court, Tristan and Isolde are shadows of themselves and what they might have been. Wagner said "Kinder,  macht neu". How fascinated he might have been with the power of technology to open out deeper levels of meaning.

Nina Stemme dominated the stage even when she wasn't singing, Stemme's persona is so strong that she can create Isolde as a force of nature.  In the beginning of the First Act, where nothing ostensibly seems to happen, the intensity of Stemme's singing  evokes the bitterness of her predicament. She intones with barely suppressed force, as if the pulse of the ocean itself were surging beneath the smooth surface. Stemme's Liebestod was impressive because it was understated. While showpiece Liebestods are wonderful, Stemme reminded us that it is the music, and the pulse in the orchestra that really matters, not grand diva ego.  As she sang, her voice rose with firm, genuine conviction.  Will she live or die? Like Brünnhilde,  she triumphs because she's found moral truth. Around her body, a golden light rises. It doesn't obliterate the shadows beyond, or the poignancy of the situation, but reminds us that Isolde is human, which makes her apotheosis all the more moving.

Stephen Gould was an excellent choice as Tristan. Ben Heppner's Tristan in 2009 was unusual in that Tristan wasn't portrayed  as comic-book hero but as a man ravaged by demons in his soul.  Tristan has been an action man all his life, but when, as he's dying,  he finally opens out to Kurnewal, he sings of the tragedy that's haunted him even before birth.  In a sense, this is his Liebestod, and he sang extremely well. Like Heppner, Gould has physical presence, suggesting strength developed through years of trial, but Gould's voice is in better condition. Pretty boys might look cute, but they aren't necessarily right, if we're sensitive to the score. Like Stemme, Gould  impresses because he's solidly in the part, rather than flashy. His voice conveys genuine, complex emotions. I've been an avid fan since he sang Paul in Korngold's Die tote Stadt. (read more HERE)

In the sense that vocal perfection isn't everything, John Tomlinson's King Marke worked as dramatic portrayal. His voice may be in shreds, but perhaps Marke is much older than we assume. If Tristan is ravaged by inner demons, Marke is ravaged by time.  I winced when Tomlinson missed notes, but that added to the sense of overwhelming tragedy. I due Foscari worked for me (read more here) because Domingo was singing the role of an old man facing fate. Quite moving, in the circumstances.

Sarah Connolly sang a surprisngly youthful Brangane, a nice counterpart to Stemme's energetic Isolde. Iain Paterson sang Kurnewal, Ed Lyon sang The Sailor, Neal Cooper sang Melot, Graham Clark sang the Shepherd, and Yuriy Yurchuk sang the Steersman.  Antonio Pappano conducted. His Wagner is often Verdi infused, but this time nicely poised to reflect the blend of elegance and sorrow in the opera. .

Christof Loy's original direction has been modified in this revival, unfortunately cutting out some very good ideas. For example, the erotic undercurrents have been toned down and with that much of the undercurrent of danger which so alarmed audiences five years ago. But Tristan und Isolde predicates on the background of male violence. Tristan has to be a warrior because that's  what's expected of him. Kurnewal treats Isolde and Brangane badly because they are women. Audiences may not like that, but the ideas are in the score. If only the Royal Opera House had the courage to restore the original, much tighter, vision.

photos : Clive Barda courtesy Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House 2014-15 season analysed

The Royal Opera House's 2014-15 season is a good balance of artistic venture and business savvy. London must be doing something right with sales running at 96% capacity and HD broadcast attendance running neck and neck with live performances. When opera houses and orchestras seem to be imploding elsewhere, it's worth taking careful note of the ROH strategy.

Seven new productions in the main house, plus others in the Linbury Studio, mixed with regular revivals.  In tough times, it's easy for houses to play safe but that is not good for the long term health of the arts. The Royal Opera House thus offers a well-planned balance of familiar and new

Shock! Horror! the new season opens in September not with a glizty gala but with something truly provocative - Mark Anthony Turnage's Anna Nicole. Not only that, but with prices max £25. The catch is students only but that's a positive. It will get the kids into the house on their own terms with their own peers.  BRILLIANT idea. No doubt there will be spoilsports who think young people shouldn't be exposed to four-letter words, but that's patronizing. Kids are sharper than they get credit for. Do-gooding "outreach" means zilch if you don't trust kids to think for themselves. What happened to Anna Nicole was obscene and Turnage tells it like it is. Although I didn't like it at its premiere Anna Nicole grew on me the more times I heard it. I'm going again and taking a whole bunch of under 30's. Read more HERE.
 
Other revivals include Der fliegende Holländer with Bryn Terfel, Adrianna Pieczonka  and Andris Nelsons - definitely not to be sniffed at! Terfel is also singing his signature Dulcamara in Donizetti L'elisir d'amore. I'm also looking forward to Tristan und Isolde with Stephen Gould and Nina Stemme in the greatly misunderstood Christof Loy production, the first ROH production to face orchestrated booing. Booing is intimidation, the denial of artistic expression. But I guess those who get their kicks from bullying will be out in force. Read my "More tradition than meets the eye" HERE and  HERE.

 Very exciting fare for those who like interesting repertoire:

1. Umberto Giordano Andrea Chénier with Jonas Kaufmann, making his role debut. Any role debut with Kaufmann is big news, and he can probably do this notoriously difficult part better than anyone else in the business these days. This opera isn't standard rep because it's hard to pull off without ideal singers but with this cast (Kaufmann, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Željko Lučić) the ROH will probably leave the Met's current production for dead. Antonio Pappano conducts  He's been  confirmed Music Director "at least" until the end of the 2017 season.

2  Karol Szymanowski's Król Roger with Mariusz Kwiecień . The music in this opera is ravishingly beautiful, expressing the love that dares not tell its name. It's a fabulous opera but its depths aren't often plumbed as deeply - and disturbingly - as they could be. Kwiecień pretty much "owns" the part of Król Roger, the king hypnotized by a beautiful, mysterious stranger. I can't imagine Kwiecień being coy.  Kaspar Holten directs, which I think bodes well. 

3 Rossini Guillaume Tell, is one of the hallmarks of Antonio Pappano's career : Listen to his recording with his Rome band, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.  He's bringing the same soloists to London - Gerald Finley, John Osborn and Malin Byström. We are in for a treat. This is another opera that's not easy to stage but will be directed by Damiano Michieletto. This is the French version of an opera by an Italian  It's not so much "about" Switzerland (which has French, Italian and German -speaking communities) but about freedom, the essence of creative art..

4  Verdi I due Foscaro . "Maybe", says Pappano, "not one of Verdi's finest works but important because it deals with an elderly father, who's seen a lot about life". Which may suit Plácido Domingo at this stage of his career - life imitating art. Francesco Meli sings the son and Maria Argesta (handpicked by Pappano in Italy), sings the son's wife.

5 Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.  Kasper Holten says he wants to do a lot more operas from the first part of the 20th century, which should be really interesting. What lies in store in future years ?  A Janáček project, he hints. Possibly more? Rupert Christiansen complained that there was too much Italian repertoire and no Russian. So what, I thought. We can't have everything all the time.  We've had Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, The Tsar's Bride, Tsar Saltan and Eugene Onegin. This year we have Król Roger (in Polish) , decidedly "East" German Brecht and Weill and Czech/Moravian Janáček to come. Mahagonny is an excellent choice because it's quite flamboyant by Brecht standards, with big choruses and bizarre situations. John Fulljames should bring out its subversive anarchy well. 

6. Verdi Un Ballo in maschera. with Calleja, Hvorostovsky, Monastryka and Serafin. Worth going to for the singing alone. The director is Katharina Thoma, so be prepared for erudite, intelligent  dramaturgy. She does not dumb down: we're well advised to study the score as carefully as she does. 

7. Mozart Idomeneo with Matthew Polenzani, conducted by period specialist Marc Minkowski, in his debut at the Royal Opera House - hooray ! Director is Martin Kušej whose work in Zurich sticks in  my mind. Should we expect feathers?

 8. Philip Glass The Trial (based on Kafka) - specially commissioned for Music Theatre Wales, with which the ROH has a long and fruitful partnership . Lots on MTW and Glass on this site - please explore).

9. Harrison Birtwistle The Cure, a co-commission with the Aldeburgh Festival, with support from the London Sinfonietta, paired with Birtwistle's The Corridor, which I heard at Aldeburgh a few years ago.

10. The Royal Opera House's role in promoting British opera should not be underestimated. That's MUCH more important than promoting Russian opera! The ROH is also presenting David Sawer's Rumplestiltskin (read more here)  and The  Lighthouse Keepers.  Sawer is emerging as a genuine talent, so don't miss this double bill when it reaches the Linbury next year. This is a joint ROH/BCMG venture. Don't underestimate the importance of these partnerships.

11. Monteverdi L'Orfeo at the Roundhouse. This is significant because it links ROH's stagecraft expertise with the Roundhouse's extensive work with students and young people, which I've written about in some depth here.


photo of Pappano and Holten, : Johann Person, photo of Eva Maria Westbroek : Bill Cooper

Tristan und Isolde Prom Urmana Bychkov

A stunning triumph for Violetta Urmana in Wagner Tristan und Isolde Prom 19 at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Luscious, resplendent timbre, superb mastery of phrase and timbre. Urmana 's voice glowed with magnificent richness. But even more impressive was her characterization. This Isolde truly comes from a long line of Queens with superhuman powers to heal and perhaps to destroy. She knows potions, spells and herbal lore. For all we know Isolde is a distant heir to Erda and the goddesses of the Earth. Urmana's beautiful tone suggests richness  and beauty. But Urmana is a true artist who can create depths to a part through the intelligence of her interpretation. Isolde is beautiful, but her true beauty lies in her intelligence and inner attributes.

Once, Isolde brought Tristan back from death. It was her moral duty, though he'd killed the man she loved. Marke wants her because she'll be the crowning asset of his kingdom. Once mistress of her own realm, she's now a slave. For a free spirit like Isolde that is more humiliating than death. When Urmana sings the long recitatives in Act I, her voice glowers with Isolde's pain. But Isolde is strong. Urmana sings her lines almost like an ancient incantation, expressing Isolde's resolute dignity.

Tristan und Isolde isn't really about love. Their relationship is thorny. She hates him. He too has a death wish, which has followed him like a shroud since childhood. When the potion takes hold, they are transformed as if by magic into hyper versions of themselves. They snatch a night of love, but even then the murmuring swell in the orchestra reminds us of the ocean, a force of nature greater than all mortals. Art the end, Isolde is restored to her true destiny. Urmana sings the Mild und Liese so it feels like a valediction. Isolde may have lost her man but she she's now in a kind of apotheosis, her powers enhanced by this harrowing experience of life and love. Listen to the broadcast of this Prom HERE for a masterclass in singing and interpretation.

Semyon Bychkov conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra, creating an Einleitung that shimmered with transparent textures. Could we hear light dancing on waves and feel the mist of sea spray? Can we imagine the "Irish child" in her free element? But the undertow reminded us of the tides and the inexorable motion of the seas. With each new surge, what had been before is changed. Bychov brings out the beauty in the score, but also its undercurrent of instability and darkness.  The music, and the oceans, have a pulse like the human heart. The pulse beats even when the orchestra falls quiet. It's a metaphor for life and death. The Yong Seaman (Andrew Staples) sang from a gallery way up in the dome of the Royal Albert Hall, his voice radiating over long distances., Later, Brangäne (Mihoko Fujimura) would sing from the organ loft, and the flautist who played the Shepherd's song would stand near the choir stalls. Throughout the opera, this sense of freedom contrasts with containment. Bychov's touch is refined, almost like Haitink's, but his tempi ebb and flow as strongly as the tides. 

Robert Dean Smith sang Tristan. He gets the notes and charms, but projection was at times a problem. Bychov restrained the orchestra so he could be heard over the surge. Fortunately, the crucial passages in the Third Act are bleak, relatively unemcumbered ny musical background. Dean Smith then came into his own, expressing Tristan's sense of desolation. When Ben Heppner sang the part in 2009, his voice was ravaged by illness in real life, but his portrayal was even more poignant as a result. Tristan doesn't really open himself up to his deepest feelings until he faces death. Robert Dean Smith's finest moments happened when they counted.

Kwangchul Youn was an outstanding King Marke. Youn sings with remarkable agility for a voice centred so low in the register. His voice has authority but his phrasing is flexible, and he adds nuance and colour to create the King as a complex personality, almost as interesting as Isolde herself. Marke has real moral values. When he learns the truth, he doesn't care what other people like Melot (David Wilson-Johnson) think. He sacrifices his status to do what its right and good. Youn develops Marke's journey towards understanding, from the upright king at the end of Act 2 to the sensitive, noble father figure he becomes in the end.  Youn isn't a very physical person, but acts with his voice better than most.

Mihoko Fujimura's Brangäne was powerfully expressive, an excellent match for Urmana''s Isolde. Brangäne is a strong personality, prepared to switch potions and defy her mistress. Fujimura's voice rings out beautifully, clear rich tones, so elegant that she must be Urmana's near-equal, not a mere maid. Boaz Daniel sang a good Kurnewal, and Edward Price the Steersman. Altogether, these were the best all-round vocal performances so far of this Proms season, notwithstanding the sort of blips and weaknesses which come with the territory in "hard sings" like Tristan und Isolde.

ADDENDUM  I spoke too soon, before Barenboim's astonishing Götterdämmerung, (reviewed here) which must surely be a Prom no-one who was there will ever forget. Violeta Urmana's Isolde was so wonderful that it put me is such a good mood that I was prepared to overlook a Tristan who could not be heard. So Isolde worked her magic and saved Tristan yet again.

Ruhr Trienniale - Tristan und Isolde, Decker

Not being a special fan of Willy Decker, it was interesting to read about his staging of Wagner Tristan und Isolde at the Ruhr Trienniale. Here's a report by James Sohre, also not usually a fan of abstraction. "If reassurance is needed (and I fear it is, oh how it is) that a gifted creative team can not only brilliantly innovate, but also genuinely serve the composer’s intent, this production was proof positive. I am not sure the last time I was so captivated by a creation of modern art, as I was taken by the massive and utterly simple set design by Wolfgang Gussmann."

It helps a lot that the conduuctor is Kirill Petrenko. No megastar singers at Riuhr (it's not that kind of place) but if a production can convert this way, it can't be bad. Please read the full review in Opera Today.  "Luminous", says Sohre.