Tristan und Isolde is not an easy opera. It's not easy to stage, nor to sing, nor to listen to. In fact, I've sometimes entertained the philistine notion that the opera would be twice as good if it were half as long.
When I first heard that Seattle Opera was planning on making
TuI their Summer 2010 opera, I assumed it would be a revival of their 1998 production (the production that marked the role debuts for Ben Heppner and Jane Eaglen, who for the next few years were briefly
the top couple for the title roles). To my surprise, it was announced it would be a new production by
Peter Kazaras. To my greater surprise, it turns out that a new production would be less expensive than a revival.
Well, it certainly looked cheap. Like too many of Seattle Opera's recent productions, it was based around a unit set (designed, along with the costumes, by
Robert Israel) that was essentially like a giant, empty, dark marble bank lobby, with minimal props onstage to indicate the various scenes. The program notes stated that the production would use expensive new projection technology, but said projections seemed to be used very sparingly. (Nowhere near the stunning projections I recently saw at Vancouver Opera's
Nixon in China or San Francisco's
Die Walküre).
The costumes seemed to be Japanese-inspired, some apparently soaked with blood. A reference, perhaps, to Yukio Mishima, the Japanese novelist who directed a film where a couple commits ritual suicide to
Tristan? (Mishima himself famously later committed
seppuku.) However, the costumes, along with the vague set and props led the viewer to believe that
some sort of point was being made. What point that might be was not clear.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the stage direction was the fact that the title couple never actually made any physical contact until the final moments: amorous obsession seen through the lens of medieval courtly love.
Musically, it was a much happier evening.
Annalena Persson, from Sweden, making her US debut, may not have beguiled with beauty of tone, but the role clearly held no terrors for her. Hers was an Isolde seething from the very beginning.
Clifton Forbis is well-known for his Tristan by now. Again, no honey in his voice, but a grand sense of self-contempt from Act 1 on.
I'm a big fan of
Margaret Jane Wray's Sieglinde, and as I expected, Brangäne suited her voice (somewhere between a soprano and a mezzo) very well. Her devotion and regret were well-portrayed. Kurwenal is a comparably small role, so it was a bit of surprise for
Greer Grimsley to take the role, as his last Seattle assignment was Wotan. Frankly, Kurwenal isn't that interesting of a part, and Mr. Grimsley didn't make it any more interesting.
Stephen Milling, on the other hand, was simply sensational as Marke, making his long scene (which in the wrong hands can be terribly boring) one of the best of the night.
Asher Fisch, Seattle Opera's principal guest conductor, really came into his own in this production. He kept a good balance with the singers--none were ever overwhelmed by the orchestra. He lingered on the more beautiful moments, but kept the opera moving along at a good pace. The Seattle Symphony played as well as I've ever heard them.
Ultimately, however, it was an evening that left me unsatisfied.
Tristan und Isolde, as I stated before, is a difficult work, and it takes a special kind of performance to turn it into the kind of hyper-romantic dementia that Wagner conjured up. I had no complaints with the musical side of the evening. It was what I saw that left me cold.
