Tristan und Isolde (DVD): Peter Konwitschny, Zubin Mehta, Waltraud Meier, Jon Fredric West, Kurt Moll, Bernd Weikl
Stage director: Peter Konwitschny
Conductor: Zubin Mehta
Tristan: Jon Fredric West
Isolde: Waltraud Meier
King Marke: Kurt Moll
Kurwenal: Bernd Weikl
Melot: Claes H. Ahnsjö
Brangäne: Marjana Lipovsek
Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper
Director: Brian Large
Stage and costume design: Johannes Leiacker
Lighting design: Michael Bauer
Filmed in 1998.
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the Munich Tristan with Waltraud Meier on Amazon
Comments
The major strength is Waltraud Meier´s mesmerizing Isolde, here
with her entire radiance, displaying her immensely varied acting skills
as well as effortless throwing off the high Cs. An exceptionally powerful
performance, overpowering the vocally stressed as well as dramatically
uninteresting Jon Frederic West as Tristan.
Mostly Opera
Er sah mir in die Augen!
The DVD of the Munich production of Tristan und Isolde (staged by Peter Konwitschny) from 1998 is loaded with highlights. The production is what conservatives would call "modern", with naïve stage sets in bright colours, strange outfits, a torch made of paper (?) and some new twists that obviously provoke some.
There is a lightness in this production that matches the tragic and dramatic elements very well. The production plays with our conceptions on how a Tristan should be, and even makes fun of literal readings of the text (Kurwenal carrying Isolde in Act 3 (Sie trag ich herauf, trau meinen Armen!)). The coffin closing the opera may also be a comment to the traditionalists, but the ending is open. Tristan and Isolde has literally stepped out of the opera and done out of the stage, so why the coffins? Have they left for a better world?
The first major highlight comes in Isolde's narration when she tells of her encounter with Tristan. She had an opportunity to kill him, but let's her sword drop. The passage "Von seinem Lager / blickt er her – / nicht auf das Schwert, / nicht auf die Hand – /er sah mir in the Augen. / Seines Elendes / jammerte mich! – / Das Schwert – ich liess es fallen!" is absolutely sublime – no one can sing this like Waltraud Meier! The passion, the confusion, the surrendering.
Buy
the Munich Tristan with Waltraud Meier on Amazon
Buy
the Munich Tristan with Waltraud Meier on Amazon
Frau Minne will: es werde Nacht
The second really great and magic moment of the Konwitschny Tristan on DVD, is the moment in the second act when Waltraud Meier sings:
Frau Minne will:
es werde Nacht,
dass hell sie dorten leuchte
The orchestra gives everything and plays like there's no tomorrow under Zubin Mehta, and combined with Meiers brilliant voice these few seconds (1.36.04 – 1.36.20) have an emotional impact that I doubt can be surpassed.
In Heiner Müller's claustrophobic and anti-romantic production of Tristan (Bayreuth, 1993-99), Waltraud Meier stands in a "cemetery of breastplates" when she sings this passage. Not even close in comparison.