Search - Gunnar Lundberg, Christopher Cook, Leif Segerstam :: An Introduction to Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde"

Helps with the background, but not the music.

Ben Franklin | USA | 09/29/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"What this lecture does well is show the relationship of the story of Tristan and Isolde to the soap opera antics of Wagner (Tristan), his wife Mina (Brangaene?) and their Swiss neighbors, the Wesendoncks (King Marke and Isolde). But I wanted something that would help me get through this four hour opera without falling asleep. The musical examples were not sufficient. There are apparently recurring leitmotifs that correspond to Tristan, Isolde, the love portion and other elements of the story. They were mentioned but not explicitly pointed out. Thus this CD can't be compared to the great job that Deryck Cooke did in An Introduction to Der Ring des Nibelungen."

A Fine Introduction to One of Wagner's Masterpieces

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the increasingly distinguished series of 'Introduction to ...' CDs that have come out on the Naxos label. And I particularly like it because not only is the narration written and read by Christopher Cook smart and clear, it also is much broader than one would expect. This is not just 'the story and the music.' The text also sets the historical and cultural context in which 'Tristan and Isolde' came to be written. There is also a good deal about Wagner's personal life at the time he came to write the opera.



As with all these educational CDs the musical examples - and there are tons of them, and not just from the opera itself - are taken from the extensive Naxos back-catalog. In this case the recording is of a live performance of the Royal Swedish Opera under the direction of the distinguished Wagnerian conductor, Leif Segerstam. My review of that recording is here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009OUAZC/



Strongly recommended, even for those who think they already know 'Tristan.'



Scott Morrison"