Tristan und Isolde (DVD): Alfred Kirchner, Bertrand de Billy, Deborah Polaski, John Treleaven, Eric Halfvarson, Lioba Braun, Falk Struckmann
Stage director: Alfred Kirchner
Conductor: Bertrand de Billy
Isolde Deborah Polaski
Tristan John Treleaven
King Marke Eric
Halfvarson
Kurwenal Falk Struckmann
Brangäne Lioba Braun
Melot Wolfgang Rauch
Chorus and Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona)
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Tristan und Isolde from Barcelona with no vision
Alfred Kirchner's production of Tristan und Isolde (first staged by De Nederlanse Opera) disappoints. Although Deborah Polaski tries to ignite it with some fine characterization of Isolde, I'm afraid everything is in vain. There is no vision. And apart from Lioba Braun, there's not much here to satisfy either ears or eyes.
Deborah Polaski is a fiery Isolde with a wide range of expression in her acting. Vocally she struggles. And I really wonder if she believed in this production.
John Treleaven and Deborah Polaski.
John Treleaven does not convince as Tristan. His vibrato is terrible, but even worse is that there is no poetry in his voice (or acting). Treleaven shows very few signs that he has a deeper understanding of what he is singing. In every scene he has the same expression of total confusion. He is best in the delirious third act.
Falk Struckmann is acting well and wisely, but his Kurwenal is shrill and wobbly. Struckmann is very good (softer and more controlled) in the Heiner Müller production from Bayreuth.
Lioba Braun's Brangäne is outstanding in all respects. Brangäne is conceived as a lightweight companion to Isolde, simple and naive, and Braun delivers a very good performance. Without Lioba Braun this production would fall apart. I just wish that Kirchner had given her a more interesting Brangäne character to work with.
The costumes and hairstyles are terrible. Isolde's Japanese style kimono in Act 1 looks like a baggy bathrobe on Deborah Polaski, Brangäne's hairstyle in Act 1 makes her look like a one-dimensional Hausfrau. But worst of all is Tristan's blue coat with the sword in a diagonally carried belt, the way old ladies carry their handbag to prevent it from being stolen.
And Tristan's long hair does not help Treleaven. On the contrary, Treleaven's facial expressions need a hair style (not to mention clothes) to make him look more intelligent, not less.
Making opera on DVD as cheap as possible produces results like this far too often: the faces - even in close-ups - totally or partly hidden behind a shadow. Lioba Braun as Brangäne and Deborah Polaski as Isolde.
A really big problem with this DVD and other filmed opera productions is the lighting. It is not satisfying to see singers singing in the dark or with a shadow from a co-singer on their face. This is a minor problem in the theatre, but extremely annoying when you watch DVDs, especially in close-up. Filming needs lighting adjustment. Please, Opus Arte, some cooperation between the video director and the lighting department would do wonders.