eternal night?
A loyal reader writes:
I wanted to let you know that the Tristan prima was a disaster. Only because of the Tristan (which, I guess we can’t relegate to a minor consideration), since it was otherwise mostly okay — if you can accept zero visual dramatic sense in the whole expedition. (As an extreme illustration of this last, the audience laughed aloud as the couple quaffed the potion. I wonder if this has ever happened before in history anywhere in the world. Granted, this was partly because of the ludicrous lighting effect, but I don’t think the man, woman, or child exists who would have laughed under any crazy staging whatsoever when Nilsson and Jess Thomas took their medicine. No, ma’am.)
Mr. Master (since I don’t aspire ever to know him well enough to call him “John Mac”) is, without any doubt, the most repellent thing I’ve ever witnessed on the Met stage, and I’m a hardened veteran. I’m not one of your “lookists” when it come to opera. But I have never seen such an ungainly, repulsive mass of flesh supporting such an unpleasant visage on any stage. He had great trouble getting up and down (which, on a set without furniture, he was required to do often) . . . .
And the sound! His voice sounds completely untrained. And if it is, in fact, as nature left it, nature should be ashamed. He seems to have a very defective ear as well, since he sang drastically out of tune. The love duet was a torture on pitch grounds alone. Voigt must have died a thousand deaths.
And the sound! His voice sounds completely untrained. And if it is, in fact, as nature left it, nature should be ashamed. He seems to have a very defective ear as well, since he sang drastically out of tune. The love duet was a torture on pitch grounds alone. Voigt must have died a thousand deaths.
This doesn’t constitute a thorough, fair account of all aspects of the evening, but I did want to say that, in 37 years of Met attendance, I’ve never witnessed such boos as the poor man received at the end of this debacle. The shrug with which he received them did, I feel, do him credit, however.
Our own JJ is assigned to review the February March 14 performance of Tristan and so your doyenne will have no comment until that critique appears in Gay City News.
wow, i wish this were available on dvd!!!
It is surprising that the pathetic audience didn’t rise
up and demand their money back .What a rip off .
I saw Dalaymann in concert a couple of years ago in a small hall doing the fragments from Wozzeck. I could hardly hear her, so I hope she learns to project by the time the Met Tristan is revived. Charbonnet is a strange singer, a convincing Elektra at Edinburgh in 2006, but on the evidence of a DVD recording I doubt she can cut it consistently as Isolde. Seiffert will pretty good as Tristan, as would be Franz – I heard him when he was not well but he seemed to have the measure the role.
Bolshoipavel
Pär Lindskog sang Siegmund in the ENO Valkyrie and was dreadful. A toneless effortful rasp. Certainly not a heldentenor hope.
No one seems to mention Thomas Moser who sang in Void’s first Vienna T & I. A decent singer which is just about all one can hope for these days as Tristan. Currently in London as Herod but I just hope that the huge paunch is prosthetic and not the real man.
CerquettiFarrell
If you can find them there is a Dvorakova Ortrud from Bayreuth and an ROH Walküre as Brünnhilde on Golden Melodram. I think Premier Opera offer an ROH T & I with Jess Thomas, which is the first time I ever saw it. Commercially there was an lp of Wagner highlights on Supraphon long out of print.
I saw Dvorakova OFTEN when I was a precious girl child in New York. She was just awful and I hated her and wished her ill. Then some years later I was in Vienna and saw her Isolde and Ortrud and she was wonderful!! I wonder what happened. As another diva said to me once after a bad patch, “a hochdrammatische needs to be fucked just right and often!” Of course Vienna is much smaller than the Met so she didn’t have to force.
I’ve seen Christian Frantz do god knows what in Berlin, he was awful every time. I don’t think he’s a savior. West must be in his 50′s, maybe not so early in them. He’s a very nice guy and tries hard but he was FILTH in Munich as Tristan (twice, and my life flashed before me both times in act three and when you’ve had MY life that is not a good thing), and in Tannhauser my life began flashing before me with his first lines and became three dimensional by act three. I saw Kollo, who was probably 60, a week later and at least my life didn’t flash before me.
Seiffert is a wonderful person, I would have drinks with him at Bayreuth (amidst pals of his and some of mine). But I have to say I thought he was very variable on stage — there was one bad Tristan (not as bad as the other night), one good Tannhauser but he seemed most at home as Walter. I think he’s really a big lyric.
I thought Jess and Jon were the great Tristans I saw. Jess really couldn’t sing it, Jon could, though he crooned and barked but both had tons of feeling. Since I was in love with Vinay and a mere maiden in Virgin Mary blue I excuse myself but I LOVED HIM, especially his pezzo d’amor of very imposing size and projection. My grandfather (who of course went back to Melchior and loved Treptow, swearing that was the real deal while Svanholm was a phony) did not care for Ramon.
I’ve heard Christian Franz’s Siegfried a few times. He’s got a real voice for the heldentenor roles. It’s a true tenor sound with a gleaming quality and an easy projection that cuts through the thickest orchestrations. He gets a wobble in his voice part only in certain parts. He’s not much of an actor and looks a bit like a potato on stage but he’s good. I loved his Siegfried because he was actually able to sing the music as opposed to belting it. In fact, he made the music almost sound easy. I’d like to hear his Tristan.
Thomas Moser is a creditable artist but certainly not a Tristan. He heaves and winds himself up to notes above the stave and reminds me of the old Mr Schwarzkpof quote that Herod is the last port of call for many an old heldentenor.
I think that Kollo was the last great Tristan, but again, his voice could cause significant distress. Unlike Vickers, who was awesome – massive voice and scary acting, even if you disagreed with his rather over the top interpretation and wayward manner.
I like Franz as well. Very sweet, honey tone to his voice, and frankly you know he’s not going to crack–which counts for a lot with Siegfried and Tristan.
Seiffert I’ve heard as Lohengrin and Tannhaeuser, both to great success. But I never would have pegged him as a Tristan. Then again, who is? I’ll look forward to him next year at the Met.
Even more than Seiffert, though, I’ll look forward to Barenboim. He’s far, far superior to Levine. Then again, who isn’t?
I saw Christian Franz in Bayreuth 2001, when he sang the Siegfried Siegfried, and I remember liking his voice much more than that of the the Götterdämmerung Siegfried, Wolfgang Schmidt.