Search - Richard [Classical] Wagner, Glen Cortese, Bulgarian Festival Orchestra :: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Very good recording; interesting artists

Meriwether Douglas | 02/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Performing Tristan und Isolde makes powerful demands - musical and dramatic - on the singers, the conductor, and the orchestra. Much of the attraction of a new recording of the opera for me is hearing how the latest artists deal with what the opera requires of them, whether they can get past the difficulties of execution to portray the expressive and dramatic content. I was not disappointed by this new recording; indeed, I was pleased with the singing and found myself touched and moved by its dramatic values. It succeeds very well.



That said, it is a live performance, and there are some blemishes in execution and some audience noise, but none egregious. The important thing to say is that the singers sing very well and at times they sing wonderfully. All the voices are vibrantly and freely produced and seem well suited to the rigors of their parts, especially in size and scale. It is particularly attractive in this cast that all members sound both vocally healthy and youthful in timbre.



No doubt for reasons of economy, the three small roles of the Seaman at the opening of Act I, the Shepard in Act III, and Melot in Acts II & III are sung well by one person, tenor Timothy Jon Sarris.



Ethan Herschenfeld sings King Mark very well. He has a very beautiful bass voice, with full extension into both the top and the bottom. It is quite dark in color, smooth and even in scale, and has a wonderfully plangent quality which is to be desired in a King Mark. Herschenfeld is very musical and expressive, though perhaps in future he will show us even more of the deeply hurt, despairing intensity other interpreters have revealed in the part.



Davis Malis sings Kurwenal with much distinction. Malis has a really beautiful high baritone voice, silvery in quality, with more than enough vigor and heft to be convincing in this partly lyric, partly heroic part. His quiet legato singing in Act III is particularly memorable.



Gwendolyn Jones sings Brangäne with one of the finest dramatic mezzo-soprano voices known to me. She has the fearlessly wide range, seamless scale, and dramatic sensitivity that the role demands ... wonderful to hear a Brangäne who doesn't sound like a compromise needed to fund the appearance of the Isolde!



Susan Marie Pierson gives us an Isolde of great beauty and power and subtly nuanced response to the moods of the character and the drama. The voice is good-sized and warm in color, supple and capable of a true piano, though the tone tends to become a bit "shallow" at the top. Pierson sings with great attention to dramatic detail, both verbal and musical, with very good German. Her projection of mood and character is fine. She is able to encompass the tempests of Act I and the beginning of Act II and does equal justice to the intimate music in Act II and to the otherworldly quality needed for the Liebestod. It is altogether an excellent portrayal, both vocally and dramatically.



Marc Deaton is Tristan, and if my ears do not deceive me, he is a dramatic tenor who should be cultivated and cherished by the opera world. The voice is sizable and has a beautiful timbre and the ability to sing the full dynamic range, pianissimo to fortissimo, that Wagner composes. His ability to sing the alternately lyric and hysterical passages of Act III with a fully supported, seemingly tireless legato tone is really remarkable. There is no barking, no resort to sprechgesang to cover for a tiring voice; it's all fully sung, and without any trace of wobble. I would be remiss if I did not also say that Deaton's dramatic understanding of this, the most psychologically complex part in the opera, is full and detailed and shows great sensitivity to word meanings and tonal coloration, with first-rate German. Again: an excellent portrayal, both vocally and dramatically.



The Bulgarian Festival Orchestra plays at a decent level overall. There are many passages where they play very well, with good ensemble and beauty of tone. I suspect that the problems of ensemble and intonation to be heard are due to a lack of familiarity with the formidably difficult score. (For ideological and historical reasons, German music other than Mozart and Beethoven was very little played in most Eastern Bloc countries until after the fall of their Communist regimes.)



Glen Cortese is the conductor and provides very good leadership in what is actually the most difficult individual "part" in the opera. Cortese has a few lapses of concentration and chooses some tempos that could be quibbled over. Nevertheless, his interpretative understanding is solid, and he and the singers come together to give the listener a very good performance of the opera both musically and dramatically.



This performance may not please everyone. Some will desire the supposed perfection offered by studio performances. Some may prefer other artists, either living or dead. For those interested in a committed performance by interesting artists who have something to say about the work, I recommend this one to you.



- Meriwether Douglas

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