Reviewed by James Karas
The Canadian Opera Company
has not touched Tristan und Isolde for a quarter of a century but it has more than
made up for lost time with its current production. Directed by Peter Sellars
and with Bill Viola’s visual design, it is a masterly production that will set
a high standard for opera in Toronto.
Tristan und Isolde takes five
hours to perform albeit with a couple of intermissions for the audience to catch
its breath. Its musical and vocal grandeur and difficulties are legendary but
its length and lack of overt action are equally well known. It is a static
opera with enormous mythical complexities but all of them are internal. Not
much happens on stage.
Sellars and Viola
refuse to accept any suggestion that this is a static opera and they have come
up with a brilliant idea: produce a complex video to be used as a backdrop to
the entire opera.
The video and still
pictures are no mere decoration like showing billowing waves or storms at sea
on a screen. The video is seen throughout the performance and it gives a large
number of scenes that illustrate (that is such a weak word) the psychological
and emotional aspects of the characters
and the situations.
There are videos and
still pictures of the sea, waterfalls, the sun, the moon, paths in the forest,
candles and many more. We see the young Tristan and Isolde and they undress in
front of us until they are completely nude. We see them underwater and floating
in the air. We are provided with a visual experience of the past as we witness
the present. It is extraordinary.
All of these images
appear while the singers are performing the opera. What we hear from the
singers and see on the screen are clearly related but it would take a hefty
tome to relate all the images to the music and singing. Some of the images such
as those of fire indicating passion and death, the sun, the moon and the like
are fairly obvious. Scenes of drowning and others are subject to many interpretations.
On an otherwise
unadorned stage, we have the opera performed by the singers in almost recital
fashion. I saw the production on February 8, 2013, with the alternate cast.
Tristan was sung by tenor Michael Baba (rather than Ben Heppner) and Isolde was
sung by Margaret Jane Wray instead of Melanie Diener.
Tristan und Isolde has vocal demands
that would tax the stamina of most singers. It is the operatic equivalent of a
Marathon or perhaps two Marathon runs and few can survive with any ease. Baba
and Wray did superb work most of the time but there were occasions when they flagged
in volume if nothing else. Most of the time they could be heard clearly but on occasion
they came close to being overwhelmed by the orchestra.
Daveda Karanas as
Brangäna was steady and very good but she ran into the same problem.
Bass-baritone Alan
Held had no such issues as Kurwenal and gave a commanding performance. Bass
Franz-Josef Selig gave perhaps the best vocal showing of the evening as King
Marke. He has a big voice and was an outstanding presence in the relatively
minor role.
Johannes Debus conducted
the COC Orchestra in a marvelous performance.
The production was
originally staged by the Opéra national de Paris in 2005 and it stands General
Director Alexander Neef in good stead for bringing such an extraordinary
production to Toronto.
Aside from Viola’s
extraordinary artistic work, the rest of the production is mostly in static
black and white. One of the small issues for me was that I was so engrossed in
the video that I forgot to watch the singers on occasion. Perhaps that is the
intention and they are allowed the luxury of singing in almost concert style
while the video takes care of the audience’s eyes if not ears.
Even with some
complaints about the singing, this is a production of the first order.
____
Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner
opened on January 29 and will run in repertory until February 23, 2013 at the Four
Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts 145 Queen Street West,
Toronto, Ontario. Tel: 416-363-6671. www.coc.ca
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