Tristan und Isolde (DVD): Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Jiri Belohlavek, Nina Stemme, Robert Gambill, René Pape
Stage director Nikolaus Lehnhoff
Conductor Jiri Belohlavek
Tristan Robert Gambill
Isolde Nina Stemme
Brangäne Katarina Karnéus
König Marke René Pape
Kurwenal Bo Skovhus
Melot Stephen Gadd
Seemann/Hirte Timothy Robinson
Steuermann Richard Mosley-Evans
London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus
Glyndebourne Festival, 2007
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Tristan und Isolde as death wish in a static production from Glyndebourne
The premiere of Glyndebourne's first Wagner production was in 2003. Four years later this milestone production was filmed and released on DVD by Opus Arte.
Stage director Nikolaus Lehnhoff sees the setting of this opera as the soul and the central motif in the death wish. The only remedy is death. The earthly love is impossible. In consequence this production lacks emotions, and I can't help feeling that the action doesn't concern me. I am afraid this concept works better at the writing desk than in the theatre.
The main characters have no life before death. The world is a prison, and life can only start with death. With the main characters having left the world mentally it is a great relief to have Kurwenal and Brangäne around. Danish Bo Skovhus and Swedish Katarina Karnéus save this production with their passion and real human emotions.
For Lehnhoff and his folks it was important
to strip the production of illusionistic elements. There
is no ship, no garden no castle, only the oval hole in the wall and the
spirals of death. A beautiful picture, but for three acts? Some very fine
lighting compensates to a certain degree for the dull stage settings. That
cannot be said of the stage instructions. The characters often just stand
there, as if cemented to the floor, and not showing any signs of interaction.
Usually King Marke's and Melot's entrance is a real pain in the ass, disturbing
the lovers, but here the intrusion is a relief because we are not given
any reason to like or sympathize with Tristan and Isolde. 
To me, at least,
this is problematic. Hey, I thought this was an opera about
love. Wagner's music is boiling with eroticism, something this production
really lacks, and I mean really lacks.
Nina Stemme is a very good Isolde vocally. Her voice is sharp and crystal clear, but it is lacking varm, emotional qualities. Her voice is not a voice you passionately fall in love with, but it does the job better than almost anyone else. After hearing and seeing this DVD several times, I started to like her voice more and more. But the Isolde character on this DVD, as Nikolaus Lehnhoff sees it, is not very interesting or exciting. Nina Stemme's Isolde is cold, aggressive, bitter and grumpy. She actually looks more like a serial killer than a woman capable of feeling love, passion and devotion. This is all according to Lehnhoff's vision. In the third act Isolde appears in a frightening black costume as a callous messenger of death. She is Dr. Kevorkian. Life begins in the next world. But what kind of life will that be, I wonder.
Tristan meets Dr. Kevorkian in the appearance of Isolde. This is love, according to Lehnhoff's vision.
Robert Gambill as Tristan doesn't have John Treleaven's power and stamina and at some ponts he is so wobbly that you feel that you are inside a tumble dryer. He does, however, in spite of this, deliver a fine Tristan with the resources available. He survives my repeated viewing and listening.
Bo Skovhus is a vocally strong, but - alas - a very hyperactive and melodramatic Kurwenal. Give this Dane some tranquilizers or simply some stage direction to cool him down and cut away the melodramatic body language, and he might possibly be one of the best Kurwenals around.
As with Tristan and Isolde, we don't feel anything at all for the betrayed king (René Pape). It doesn't help that René Pape sings beautifully - the King Marke character is not well integrated into this production.
Conductor Jiri Belohlavek is a new acquaintance to me,
but what a fine reading this is. I especially loved the bass heavy passages,
which suits the death wish theme of this production. Listen to the basses
at 34:35 (on DVD 1) when Isolde sings "Von
seinem Lager / blickt er her – /
nicht auf das Schwert, / nicht auf die Hand". The reading is rather
eccentric, but I love it. (Jirí Belohlávek won a Grammy in 2008 for his recording of Janácek’s The Excursions of Mr. Broucek.)
In a stylized production like this, it is sad to see the shepherd look like a complete fool from a stag party that went very wrong.
I have watched the DVD several times – and listened to it while I worked. Even though I may seem negative, there is something about this production that will not lose its grip on me.
Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. I suppose that is a sign of quality.
Lehnhoff's production of Tristan und Isolde from Glyndebourne on DVD