Werther in Wien with Sophie Koch and Jonas Kaufmann

Jonas Kaufmann Photo by Michael Pöhn Staatsoper Wien (**)

Massenet: Werther
Wiener Staatsoper, 28 January 2011
Frédéric Chaslin/Dirigent
Jonas Kaufmann/Werther
Adrian Eröd/Albert
Sophie Koch/Charlotte
Ileana Tonca/Sophie
Janusz Monarcha/Le Bailli
Benedikt Kobel/Schmidt
Clemens Unterreiner/Johann

Tell you what, dropping off the tube on a chilly London night, dragging your suitcase through the bus station among a bunch of drunks, running to catch the bus home (almost seeing the fluffy bed you are going to drop into any minute now!) only to have the little machine tell you that your Oyster card has : not enough money on it! puts a totally new perspective on minor nuisances such as a Carmen-ish tambourine rattling away in Werther act 1.

But let’s leave reality behind and talk about Werther...

I now know that what definitely was love at first sight (or listen live) last year in Paris is for life. (Remember Paris ? Feel free to go back to it, even I felt I had to pay another visit to my own thoughts ;-) I love this opera and I know I always will, no matter what conductors do to it and through all possible productions. I have the most wonderful memories of the Paris Werther and I am even more grateful to realise that what that cast, that orchestra and Michel Plasson have created there will last me much more than just a beautiful memory. They have shown me how complex, intricate, delicate and perfect from the first to the last note it can be and I was both surprised and happy to hear and feel that the pattern they have engraved guides me through the score again and again, no matter where I hear it.

It’s not like I went to Wien in search of the same Werther. I knew that would be unrealistic and really who wants to relive the exact same operatic evening again and again and again , identically in every detail? I guess nobody, at least not live in an opera house. But I did wonder if the emotions in the Paris Werther were a one off event. Incredibly, they are not :-) I didn’t hear the Paris Werther inside the one from Wien, neither did I log off my ears and played what I really wanted to hear in my head ;-) What happened was that I did hear, recognise and most of all feel it in odd lines here and there and most of all in the singing, not the Werther from a year ago, but Massenet’s Werther, if that makes sense.

I’ve had that luck once before, with the Lohengrin, when the first experience live of the opera was so extraordinary that it really helps you discover the secrets (which is why what Tony Pappano said in the video I have posted before stroke a cord). Something as powerful as that connects you to a piece forever, hopefully not in the sense that you will always want to go back to that one experience, but in the sense that you will identify it whenever you hear it again and strive for a repeat encounter with some or a lot of that beauty :-)

As I was saying, to me Massenet’s Werther is incredibly beautiful!

Even when it comes in such an uneven and often chaotic mix as the one in Wien. I’ve tried all possible seating in the house and the acoustics stay weird and this time I had a better view of the pit which partly explained why this must be. I think it has about as much seating as the ROH but is built much tighter, it’s a much more closed space and probably higher. The pit comes far deeper into the circle, giving from almost all seats unobstructed view into it. I know it can be sunk and elevated as most pits these days, but it basically is built totally in front of the stage and has a full wooden wall at the back, which is also the line where the stage starts. I’ve seen a similar set up in Zurich and a similar sound impact is created there, but on a much smaller scale and obviously lesser impact. I think basically from the line at the end of the pit and the hall you probably have a full circle, which makes the sound on stage basically come from behind this circle. And this is how it sounds like. With a considerably elevated pit like we had in Werther you have the sound of the orchestra flowing straight up, not exactly in a wall of sound, as the pit is very wide and deep, but a kind of fuzzy forest of sound and through the trees you hear the singers. The two sounds never intertwine or at least much more rehearsal and work on coordination is needed than time allowed for these 4 performances. I thought sitting higher up would help get closer to where the two sounds meet, but it doesn’t. Whatever you do, the singers will always be outside this sound circle, even perfectly audible, but kind of acoustically far away.

It’s surely a tricky thing to master in any opera, and in French opera all the more so.

From my limited experience, French opera and Massenet all the more so is most beautiful when it becomes a kind of flow, where individual instruments can hardly be distinguished from each other, in an indissoluble harmony which beds the singers voices, embracing them. I always imagine them when I hear something like that like a swimmer floating in the water, not really above the wave, not diving in, but merged into the surface. And that is not really what we got. It was more like stormy weather, clashing uncontrollably around the singers, sometimes in unison, sometimes threatening, sometimes leaving exposed. There were some real moments of beauty, the less the orchestration the better the harmony but the speed changes were sometimes unsettling.

It’s also my personal preference for a more intimate version of the interpretation that made me duck a few time from the crashing sound. With the drama in Werther I always felt that the music carried enormous emotion, tension, passion but in undercurrent, not exposed. It’s like a bubbling volcano, threatening nearby. The tension is sometimes unbearable, takes your breath away but in a quiet kind of way, which makes the outbreak in act 3 that much more frightening, because it destroys everything and it is final. For me this suits the story much better and makes it more credible, it’s about longing and despairing with it, but not daring.

In this case, both the production and the musical interpretation were much more out there. The plot transposed to the 50’s with a large linden tree dominating the stage. I liked the way the tree want through the seasons and it’s bareness in the end was definitely atmospheric. I didn’t care much about the rest, it neither disturbed nor did it add a lot I felt. I am generally not sure if stripping the drama of its intimacy and shyness improves it. For me it doesn’t really. For Werther and Charlotte it doesn’t really seem to be love at first sight, there is already an obvious connection, Sophie is much more than a teenager feeling shy pangs of first love and not really knowing what to with it, she is more of the annoying clingy type and Albert’s love rather than strong and deep and steady seems or of the violent, cold hearted type. Tonca and Erod both sing well and Erod has admirable French pronunciation, but it somehow stays on the surface and there was one thing I did miss from Paris, the way Tezier knew how to enrich every line with feeling and meaning. It’s the same story, but nothing is hidden, nothing is implied, it is all out there in the open. It feels mundane, sometimes bordering on stale, or it would threaten to become so, were it not for the lead singers :-)

Sophie Koch Photo by Patrick Nin at imgartists

I am thankful in this case for little rehearsal time, which allowed Sophie Koch and Jonas Kaufmann to be less fused into this concept and for some of the romanticism of the story to be retained. There is a delicacy and sensibility intrinsic to Sophie, which make her my favourite in this role. Because she always seems to tremble somehow, to care, to feel and worry. She never becomes the disappointed housewife, reality never numbs this Charlotte, which is why in the 3rd act she sings with all that feeling that already in Paris brought tears to my eyes. Her Charlotte is caring, human, involved, which is how I like her :-)

Jonas also managed to make his Werther a bit wilder, more unstable, more dangerous almost if you will, while at the same time retaining his pensativeness and melancholy. His Werther is less resigned , less remorseful, more unhinged but equally driven or attracted to death both in release as in desire for peace. His “Lorsque l'enfant” had all the melancholy and mysticism that so touched me the first time I heard it. The only instance in the whole evening where the production really annoyed me, was when it ruined the poetry of that wonderful “Je ne sais si je veille ou si je rêve encore!” by having him grab a bottle of beer and take a refreshing sip on “Cette source limpide et la fraîcheur de l'ombre”. Ok, it may be funny, but it had me thinking: what on earth????? Luckily most people will not connect the text to the gesture because that irony was cheap and uncalled for and why ruin Werther’s dream? I love that aria! The way the music mirrors the words and images is soo beautiful…

The personalities they created for the characters matched extremely well and musically it’s where Massenet found that harmony one could wish for. Theirs was the element that managed to ground the music in a French sound, that essentially provided the line and flow of the opera and it was most beautiful, harmonic and filled with emotion! I could only regret that only sometimes did some solos from the orchestra find their way to this harmony while mostly giving a much bigger, rasher sound, which meshed Wagnerian with Verismo in a way that ,instead of slowly building the tension, threatened to overwhelm it. In the softest piani passages which both Jonas and Sophie almost caressed with their voices you also shuddered sometimes with suddenly intruding instrument solos gone overboard. Painstakingly spun nets of tension and emotion coming from the stage were often under threat….

I just wish the conductor and the orchestra would have worked equally as hard at showing the audience how incredibly beautiful and rich the soft and tender parts are, more so in the hands of artist like Sophie and Jonas. In opera such moments are rare and few can cherish and shine in them like these two and it is such a pity to not give people a chance to get to know and admire this as much as they do big and bold. Just because the latter is more obvious and more recognisable does not mean it is the only beauty worth admiring :-)

Which is maybe the right moment to explain about the two production photos you see.

You may have noticed, or not, that I am making an exception and not bringing you photos from published reviews or the page of the Staatsoper itself. Consider this is a special treat ;-) These are two only 2 production photos that i actually own.

(The only other printed production material i own is a poster of a ROH production, the Don Giovanni, bought to cheer up the empty walls between moving boxes into my London apartment as this was the first opera I saw when new in town :-))

You may wonder, why if I don’t even particularly like this production? I could say, well, I bought them before seeing it ;-))) Which is true, but I did know more or less how the production looked like when I did. I actually never meant to buy them either. I like to browse around opera shops and Arcadia (the one at the Wien Staatsoper) is full of treasures of old times, with gazillions of CDs and signed pictures of almost any singer you have heard of, it’s more like a mini-museum than a shop. So in i went with a friend of mine and we had a breeze around and gave some “serious” consideration to the business the opera houses are making with photos, calendars and such ;-) I still believe the ROH could make more money out of this, if they sold the right pictures and posters. As the lady at the counter informed us, such pictures and posters sell very well. Yep, the margin on something that must cost pennies to make and sells at 10 times that is considerable ;-) In any case we looked at their current year calendar (check out here if curious) but I think it is overpriced, I don’t like all of the 12 images, I can’t have a calendar and keep it on January the whole year and even less if all the other pictures are better taken than that one! So after commenting about the calendar (ok, a particular picture in the calendar which we both agreed was a particularly good one! But can’t have that month up for a whole year either!)we moved on to the Werther pictures and there were loads of them!

So I went: no, no, no,no, no… can I see that one please? So the lady wants to go inside to get some and I go: No, no, I don’t want to buy them I just want to look at them please. She: looks at me (“this is the craziest one yet!”), sighs deeply and proceeds to take out the pins of the postcard size photo I was pointing to. I study that one and go : “can I see the other one too please?” She : pointing to the board: “which one?” Me: “the other bloody one please”. So there I stand twisting and turning them. I already know I am in trouble when looking at them I hear Jonas voice singing… The one where he lies on the bed goes : “Là-bas au fond du cimetière,/il est deux grands tilleuls!” and the other “Père! Père! Père, que je ne connais pas, /en qui pourtant j'ai foi, parle à mon coeur, appelle-moi!Appelle-moi!” (i know it’s still the 4th act i am looking act, give me some credit! But it is that what I am hearing that the picture suggests to me).

Ok, damn Massenet! I am gonna give in and buy one, but which? It’s about choosing what I like to hear most… and I can’t. It’s like deciding what Jonas does best… what do I prefer in his singing? The soft, sensitive, touching piani? The power and strength, the force of rage and desperation? My turn to sigh and grunt in frustration, purse out, here you go, I am taking both! I was still mumbling about what on earth I was going to do with them, now that I had bought them?

And I’d rather not be thinking about the saleswomen doubling over with laughter as soon as the door closed behind us…

Jonas Kaufmann Photo by Michael Pöhn Staatsoper Wien

Back to the performance a few hours later. There had been clapping at the end of act 1 and 2 and the singing was gorgeous, so it was obviously going well. And I was looking forward to the Letter aria from Sophie, to those dark threatening accords when Werther appears “Oui! c'est moi! je reviens” and well, to all the rest of it. While the audience as it turned out had been waiting all night for their chance of giving some enthusiasm they were feeling back.

Does any moment in this opera strike you as rewindable and repeatable in an instant? Probably not, me neither :-) The drama builds in such a tight way and spirals out musically into such tension… But that would be forgetting that one aria in this opera is known much more than the rest and is recognisable for everyone in the audience. And in certain circumstances it becomes about the aria more than the opera itself or the drama. And if perfectly delivered it will bring the audience to such a state of euphoria that it creates the opportunity for a naturally very enthusiastic public to stop the show with Bravo shouts and clapping and well, requests of encore. And stop it they did, for about 3 full minutes.

I’ve witnessed encores before, I’ve even asked for them before :-) But I have to say it was for Verdi or Rossini or Donizetti pyrotechnics. I don’t think somebody can spontaneously pour their heart out…twice in a Flower song… or look death in the eye and back at life for the last time... twice… in E lucevan, nor did I believe Werther could recite Ossian twice in the same night. I did believe the audience would ask for it :-) There is something the audience in Wien share with the one at the Met, their incredible enthusiasm and the fervent way they express it and I believe there is no greater compliment that an audience can pay an artist than telling them their rendition of an aria was so beautiful they must hear it again!

In Paris I would have hit anyone who would have dared to interrupt the music until the end with either clapping, shouting or even ... breathing ;-) Only quiet sobbing was allowed :-)

But this wasn’t Paris and after 3 min of cheers, a pause, more clapping and generalised laughing when the orchestra got signals wrong and tried to continue, there really wasn’t any drama being interrupted. The audience needed to express how much they admire Jonas and the only way to actually get the show rolling again was, well, to give generously what was asked for so fervently :-) That is what I thought afterwards, but when I heard the music and heard him start to sing “Pourquoi me réveiller, ô souffle du printemps” I think I literally stopped breathing. I thought he sang it even more emotionally the second time around, which is what I said when I asked for the autograph much later(*) but honestly I don’t know if it was just the emotion from the singing or my own emotion and my mind flashing : OMG Jonas is doing an encore! It’s his first encore….

Took me way more to process that than it took Sophie and Jonas to get things going and I snapped back when an absolutely too real looking pistol was handed over.

The interlude to act 4 could have been more sensitive and I did miss the shot itself… it was weird not hear it, especially since Werther had a more than real injury… I don’t know if the shot is actually written in the score, but the music suggests a peaceful, although very sad passing, and end, but somehow a release and I felt the shot rightly jolting us back to a very real reminder that this is not a natural passing, but a self-inflicted death of someone who is so terribly desperate. I guess I am more shocked by the sound than the visuals, although gallons of blood work very well too. Except for me it was another one of those instances where the production went from strong emotional suggestion to all too literal display. As I mentioned before it was the intensity in the artistic expression and the suggestion in the music that made me want to hold on to a physical memory of the piece than the actual bloody image of the dying Werther.

In this production Albert darkly lingers about in the death scene, but it neither intruded nor distracted, as one could focus on nothing else but the last moments Charlotte and Werther spent together.

And the curtain fell and more applause came from a satisfied and touched audience. And it is when I will always feel like shouting Bis! I can’t pick out a single thing I want to have repeated on the night, I couldn’t make myself stop at any point in time , I feel driven to the end and I always feel that it has gone by way to quickly. And I am always left wanting more and encore… from the beginning to the end, all over again…

(*)Well I had bought those things and I still had them! So it occurred to me to make some good use of at least one, rather than standing there fidgeting and trying to say something like: uhhh, it was nice! Believe me, your brain would be frozen as well had you stood outside in -7C for more than half an hour trying to process the evening :-)
(**) As you can imagine now I am glad I am the owner of these photos ;-) Please notice the way the signature embellishes the photo! It’s placed exactly right to not destroy any of the expression and now instead of looking at the blood your eyes are drawn to the signature :-) Thanks ever so much Jonas! This might just go up my wall ;-))))

Update - Ok, here you go! You know you want it and i can't stand the envious glares anymore ;-))))

Toute chose est encore à la place connue......

To have and to hold, to listen and watch, to remember and indulge, to cherish...

You can preorder for example from here (thanks a lot HM for this tip!)

Werther Jonas Kaufmann on France Musique tonight

If you would like to listen again, there is tonight's radio broadcast on France Musique:

19:05 CET , 18:05 UK time

Listen by either clicking on the main page linked above where it says in the left hand side menu:
écouter le direct

or by clicking on this LINK (will play in your Windows Media Player)

Enjoy!

Soirée lyrique
par Jérémie Rousseau
Jules Massenet, Werther

Opéra en quatre actes et cinq tableaux, sur un livret d'Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet et Georges Hartmannd'après Johann Wolfgang von Goethe en langue française

Werther Video Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch

Werther Video on the arte webiste HERE (beware, you need an updated version of Adope Flash Player to view it, and you can get it here )

And remember, for those who live in Paris, or the lucky ones who can arrange a trip there, 2 performances left: 1st and 4th of February! Details from the Opera de Paris site.

(i know it is a crappy picture, but so is my mobile ;-))

And there will also be a radio broadcast on France Musique (you will be able to listen live from the web of the radio):

DIFFUSION SUR FRANCE MUSIQUE LE 13 FEVRIER 2010 A 19H05 (CET ), Uk time 18,05!

Werther Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch

Update: there are yet more videos for the desperate ones ;-) at TenoreCorelli youtube channel HERE (Thanks!!!)

Sorry for not inserting them here but the blog page would die a pleasant but instant death :-) But please follow the link and you will find .. Werther :-))) Enojy!

.......

I didn't manage to "see" anything last night, but the connection was good enough to hear most of it and it sounded divine! The applause seems to be getting warmer (well, yes, crazier!) from performance to performance and they are getting better and better!

For all the ones who couldn't see it, here are some bonbons, all thanks to Macbett0 :-) (thanks very very much!!) More to follow as soon as available :-)

And now i am going to lock my credit card away just to make sure on Friday i don't give into temptation and run off to Paris!! You have no idea just how hard it is to resist at this point...

Enjoy!!

JONAS KAUFMANN, Je ne sais si je veille ... O Nature, pleine de grace, WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Sophie Koch, Air des lettres (Letter scene), WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010




JONAS KAUFMANN, Pourquoi me réveiller, WERTHER, Paris, 2010



Sophie Koch, "Va! Laisse Couler Mes Larmes", WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Sophie Koch & Jonas Kaufmann, N' achevez pas! hèlas!, WERTHER, Paris, 26 Jan. 2010



Jonas Kaufmann & Sophie Koch, WERTHER, Finale, Paris, 26 Jan 2010

Encore Werther, toujours Jonas Kaufmann

JonasKaufmann.© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Werther, 23 January 2010

After the last one on this subject you might have thought all was said, or that I was going to quickly run out of adjectives. No, all is not said and not running out of adjectives, just yet :-)

But you will be relieved I’ve come back from seconds without emptying another box of Kleenex. That particular feeling of hearing this music live for the first time cannot possibly be repeated; whatever comes next is and will always be different. I The main shift I guess was that the focus for me moved last night from the story to the music. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t hear the music first time around, but things become clearer, shine through more intensely when a bit of times passes and when you actually know exactly what will happen next. I could basically take almost a mental step back and instead of hanging on every word, rather hang on every phrase, on every line, every wave of music. Which does by no means want to say that the experience was less touching, or that Werther rushing head on into death does not break your heart all over again.


It just means that the impact of the unexpected changed into the excitement of expectation.

I am not going to say I wouldn’t wish to see all the remaining performances, of course I do! As did half the hall each of the two times I have been. It is impossible to not want to relive something so amazing again and again. But, this is all about being really grateful for having been there! About joy, not about regrets :-)

And if nobody could have believed it could get any better, well the other night it did. Jonas Kaufmann was clearly feeling much better and to everyone’s amazement he managed to even outdo himself. It is an altogether different experience to hear him not only in control of body and voice, but actually free to let go of both and let the voice expand or float or trickle down without ever touching any limits. And in presence as well he won that extra touch of energy, of flexibility and drive, that glues your eyes and attention on him whenever he is on stage. His Werther became a touch more desperate, emotionally volatile while at the same time the voice was even more secure, warmer, sweeter in the piani and more brilliant and luminous at the top. The effect was truly mesmerising and it felt almost surreal to sit there and listen. Sophie Koch, Ludovic Tezier and Anne-Catherine Gillet also were even better than before. This performance was filmed, as you would expect as it is usual for broadcast and hopefully later DVD to be done from several recordings. I haven’t heard Tezier many times live but my jaw did drop slightly when he came on stage this time. Not only can he act. But he does it very very well! And that rich voice soars with amazing effect once he decides it should. It made me ask myself why he wouldn’t do that the first time around? He shaped Albert into an altogether different character, more engaged and yes, at the end more intent on his decision. He was intimidating menacing pushing the box of pistols with a decided gesture towards Charlotte. It was a pleasure to see him become so easily and naturally an equal part of this powerful trio. And the more I hear Sophie Koch the more I like her singing. Because she is one of those artists who makes you forget the notes she is singing, but makes you tremble with the intensity of her interpretation.

It’s such an obvious thing to say : ”Rêve! Extase! Bonheur!” But it truly was! And it could not have been bestowed on a more grateful and rapt audience. Very very few coughs and mostly breaths held, Nobody would have even dreamt of interrupting the flow of music with applause. It would have been almost out of place. But just imagine the explosion at the end! I’ve never ever heard such shouts at the end of a performance. The two men sitting behind and next to me left my ears ringing! But none of us could have stopped ourselves! It was a physical impossibility to express through shouts of Bravo and applause what we had received from all these wonderful artists on the night! I know what I must be sounding like (and all I had the whole day was water ;-))) but I swear if years and years of listening to music teach you something, it is to recognise a once in a lifetime evening when I happens. There are no words to describe the feeling, in spite of suicide and sad story, all I could feel was glory!


I can’t even begin to say how beautiful this music really is! I don’t think there is a note amiss, everything is carefully thought of, perfectly coordinated and tuned finely to obtain exactly the desired effect. There is a wonderful video of Mr Plasson on the Opera de Paris website who explains it just marvellously! I was indeed surprised at how easily I could remember almost the entire text and that is not something I tend to do easily, quite the contrary, but this comes absolutely naturally. Now this a composer and an opera which knows how to deliver punch lines! It is indeed all about accents and about lighting flames here and there, perfect musical spotlights on just the right word to make you smile, frown, hold your breath or sigh in pain.
And then there are the musical passages which introduce the scenes and set the mood, from the very beginning you feel the music changing from light, playful to melancholic and ethereal. Take for instance the introduction to Werther’s entrance in the 1act, you are still smiling at the children when the music suddenly becomes something quite different, a gentle tension, a “frisson” almost and then of course you see Werther. And before he even opens his lips to sing you know what he is all about, because the music tells it so clearly and convincingly! And this music accompanies him all the way through to the end. And Massenet liked to repeat words with different shading to great effect.

So Werther appears and there we go : o nature! And from the sweetness in his voice when he says it you know that is his heaven, his refuge. And then how the music soars every time on “soleil”, “rayon”, “lumière”…..

Then there is Charlotte’s music, starting off light and almost playful and becoming increasingly dramatic, just as Albert’s , while Werther’s gets increasingly passionate, grand, sweeping you away.

I have to say this time I was almost holding my breath for Werther’s first “Charlotte!!!” There is so much musicality in just that one name, as is indeed in “Werther” . You can’t just take the words very literally because they will become exaggerated. I mean just think of what comes out of Werther most of the time, he’s constant ecstasy, pain, it is all over the top… But, if you take the music step by step and just take each aria , even line, as it comes and listen and feel it rather than thinking about it , it speaks to you in a special way.

For instance, don’t you feel the caress when Werther sings softly : “Calmé par ses regards et bercé par sa voix! ”? And the way the music explodes in” Charlotte! je vous aime...
je vous aime... et je vous admire! ” It is so definitive, so absolute, you know there is no going back from there.

Then there is the calm, enveloping love that Albert expresses in: “Trois mois! Voici trois mois que nous somme unis! Ils ont passé bien vite... et pourtant il me semble que nous avons vécu toujours ensemble! » You really feel his inner peace in his toujours ensemble… ” and the” et j'ai l'âme ravie!” An the calmness of the music is such contrast to the explosions in Werther’s. And there is perfect connection between Werther’s “Un autre! son époux! ” ?(sung by JK in front of the curtain at the end of the first act) to Albert’s sombre “Il l'aime! ” And in this one word you feel Albert’s change of heart regarding Werther as well, there is no friendship left.

Strangely enough “Pourquoi me réveiller” is not my favourite part of the opera, I already like “Je ne sais si je veille..” better, but outside the last act, which is perfect in itself I think I like the 2nd act best in terms of Werther’s music. There is nothing quite like the exaltation of “J'aurais sur ma poitrine”, especially when you hear it sung in a way that makes you forget it’s difficulties. But my absolute favourite starts with Werther’s apparently resigned “..et ce sera ma part de bonheur sur la terre.”, interrupted by the joyous, bell like chant of happiness brought in by Sophie “Le bonheur est dans l'air! Tout le monde est heureux! ” There couldn’t be a more painful clash between her light and unpreoccupied joy and Werther’s dark despair, and later on Charlotte’s in the 3rd act.

Massenet gave Sophie the perfect music I think! And Gillet is the perfect voice for it, you hear laughter and birds chirping in her voice when she sings “Ah! le rire est béni, joyeux, léger, sonore! (léger) Il a des ailes, c'est un oiseau... ”

But the absolute highlight the other night was Werther/Jonas alone on stage singing :” Oui! ce qu'elle m'ordonne... ” From the softest imaginable beginning to the soul shattering “Père! Père! Père, que je ne connais pas, en qui pourtant j'ai foi, parle à mon coeur, appelle-moi! Appelle-moi! “ (Again the repeated words in different shading each time). It was mind-blowing!!! I don’t think anyone dared to breath until the end… It felt as if the words were literally slicing through his heart and yours as well…

And it was Sopie Koch’s time to dazzle! I find it amazing what she can achieve in 3 arias who follow each other closely. Her “...tu frémiras! tu frémiras! ” were incredibly dark and frightful! (Never mind that I find the idea of that particular letter unbelievably cruel from Werther! Who would ever write such a letter to someone they love????) And the intense way Sophie Koch sings it at that particular moment it leave almost no room to forgive Werther for writing it. The she gently follow with the teararia on a similar tone, just much sadder “le coeur se creuse... et s'affaiblit: il est trop grand, rien ne l'emplit; et trop fragile, tout le brise! Tout le brise! ” The desperate embrance with Gillete’s Sophie makes you fight back tears each time. And by the time Koch has reached the end of her «O Dieu bon! Dieu fort! ô Dieu bon! En toi seul j'espère! Seigneur Dieu! Seigneur Dieu! “ all I can do is wonder who does she do it??? I am all tied in knots after the first aria and she finds the force to increase the emotional engagement from one to another. Splendid!!

And then he is back! I find it rather touching that the composer and the librettist have made Charlotte into such a sweet and forgiving human being, which is capable of receiving him in such a tender way. He definitely does not start off on the right foot and I would have been anything else than sweet and warm like wonderful Charlotte. But of course her effort to sooth and pacify gives us musically another one of my very favourite moments: their intertwined: “Toute chose est encore à la place connue! ” Too bad there is no turning back to sweetness at this point. Werther’s desperate “Pourquoi me réveiller” brakes all barriers and their ensuing struggle was never more convincingly displayed. Their almost feverish “Je t'aime! Je t'aime! je t'aime! / Défendez-moi, Seigneur, défendez-moi contre moi-même!
Défendez-moi, Seigneur, contre lui... défendez-moi! ” sung with incredible force, never shouted, literally exploded with feeling. It was incredible !!! I get goosebumps by just remembering it! It was as if the music was carrying them both to the top, in spite of the sheer orchestral force behind that music they were always audible, above and beyond. If I hadn’t been there I would certainly think such a thing is impossible! I can’t assure I wasn’t sitting there mouth open just staring, not believing my own ears. I will cross al fingers and toes that tomorrow during the broadcast they manage to repeat that incredible moment! It is sure to lift us all from pout sofas, floating above in sheer ecstasy! I can’t stop gloating when I remember.

And again Massenet knew perfectly what he was doing writing the continuation and especially the introduction to the last act, because you have to actually gradually come back to reality and realise what is actually happening and to be able to enjoy the last shreds of tenderness between Charlotte and Werther and not exit with a bang after that high point you have just been pushed to. Mind you this time the introduction almost gave me a heart attack and not for the right reasons… remember the sliding room where Werther lies wounded? Well again something badly malfunctioned, the mechanisms were even noisier, there was a loud crack and the house wobble dangerously a few times, shaking Jonas on the ground to the point where I though they would end up throwing poor wounded Werther on the stage outside in the snow! Then the sliding suddenly was faster and I saw two technicians run up from behind to the back of the house. I honestly thought there was a danger of the thing coming off stage into the pit! They need to sort it out before the broadcast tomorrow because it is unfair to spoil the music with these mishaps! Thank God this is one cold blooded Werther who never even batted an eyelid and as soon as Charlotte was there one rapidly forgot about the silly house. The last act was different from the other time, differently sung and slightly differently played I would say. I can’t explain exactly how, but it sounded differently. Equally as good, if not better but the accents and dynamics varied. Koch was softer, rounder, her piani altogether better and well, you know Jonas his piani!! And if you don’t you better cancel all you have planned for tomorrow night, watch the broadcast and you’ll find out! A pity the orchestra, especially the solo instruments at times were a bit louder than last time around.

I had the strangest flash back here, as last time as well on Werther’s “Parle encore! parle je t'en conjure! ” Easy guess, from where? Of course: “Parlami ancora come dianzi parlavi, è così dolce il suon della tua voce!” (yes, Mario to Tosca, last act)

And that “Tout oublions tout! ”….

And you should hear Jonas sing:
“Mais, à la dérobée, quelque femme viendra visiter le banni...et d'une douce larme, en son ombre tombée le mort, le pauvre mort...se sentira béni... ” in the softest, most incredible piano i have ever heard ! There has to be a special name for what he does, because there is no other like it, I’m pretty sure he has invented it! So ... it is just the Jonas-caress :-)

Pretty strange thing having someone die so beautifully, singing so incredibly, with not a breath audible while still making death credible!. And every word intelligible! Heavenly!

I’m grateful for having been able to go, for having a wonderful and warm audience on the night, for a good orchestra and an amazing conductor, for the inspiration of Massenet, for incredible singers, for everyone and everything that made this such an unforgettable experience!


PS.
And merci beaucoup to Esti for being there to capture the impressions of a very special night! It’s equally as wonderful to be reminded through the intimate eye of her camera of the people, the feelings, the shades and traces which make such magical nights happen :-)

So tomorrow, the broadcast , details on the Opera de Paris web here or here where Intermezzo has kindly given all relevant details already :-)

So where do I pray for an unusually good internet connection???

Jonas Kaufmann gives life and death to Werther in Paris

Photo : Jonas Kaufmann.© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Werther - (1892)MUSIC BY JULES MASSENET (1842-1912) , 17 January 2010
POEM BY EDOUARD BLAU, PAUL MILLIET AND GEORGES HARTMANN AFTER JOHANN WOLFG ANG VON GOETHE
Michel Plasson Conductor
Benoît Jacquot Stage Director
Charles Edwards Sets
Christian Gasc Costumes

Jonas Kaufmann Werther
Ludovic Tézier Albert
Alain Vernhes Le Bailli
Andreas Jäggi Schmidt
Christian Tréguier Johann
Sophie Koch Charlotte
Anne-Catherine Gillet Sophie

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine⁄ Paris Opera children's Chorus
Original Royal Opera House production, Covent Garden, London (2004), owned by the Opera national de Paris

My mind is still being flooded with images and sounds from last night and I’ve never had such a hard time to find the words to describe how it was…

I’ll try to retrace my own steps which lead to last night in an attempt to sort out thoughts and emotions for myself as well, so please be patient if this will feel a bit chaotic! I think I mentioned that yesterday I saw Werther for the first time live. I can remember a few operas I have seen live for the first time in the last year and they were all experiences I am very grateful for, rich and exciting. But none of these experiences compare to last night.

In the past I almost never had the chance to hear French opera live but somehow I got hooked by just listening. I know some people think they tend to be long and tedious, excessively sweet, etc. But from the first one I heard I fell in love! I guess it is like colours or ice-cream flavours, each one of us has favourite ones. I enjoy all opera, but the French repertoire touches me in places inside no other manages to. It is strange in many ways, because French is not necessarily my favourite language, but in opera there is nothing like it! When it is right it enhances the music enormously, because it becomes music itself..and when it is wrong…. Of all the recordings I have listened to, or the performances I have seen, more than 90% of the time it sounds wrong and only a very few sound “right”. But the search is worth it!

Last night I found a gem! And am still stunned today that it happened because i rarely went into an opera with more contradictory feelings about it. I’ve listened to recordings, old and new and there were things I liked in each and things I didn’t. If you take away the ones where the Frenchs ends up trying your patience you are left with very few. And out of those in some the diction was at conflict with my understanding of their French, basically if I have to read what they are singing separately rather than understanding it directly, it’s destructive for the emotional link and I don’t like that . The one I ended up coming back to was an old recording with Goerges Thill. That had all the style and the clarity I was longing for but you know that the sound your are hearing from a remastering of a 1930s recording is not going to be anything like the live one. And even there I felt in some instances that beauty of sound won over intensity of interpretation. Generally I got an impression that musically some bits felt weaker and I just couldn’t get my ears round it like in others. It wasn’t like Manon or Romeo et Juliette, which I heard once and could almost sing it next. Still, I already knew I did like the arias very much, I just wasn’t sure about the whole.

Then there is the story… I know Goethe from school and sadly, I never liked “Die Leiden”… And the years passed have not made a character who just lays flat and begs for death grow on me. It is not so much the death wish in itself, there is plenty of that in opera and I’ve never not come to terms with one before. But there are death wishes and death wishes. There is romantic melancholy (like in Dichterliebe, which I adore and could die for!!) ..and there is Werther!!!! So once I had confused myself to bits with the music, I went and grabbed the libretto…. Which was love at first sight!!! I basically cried my way though it and it is pure poetry, just perfect. But by no means does it define exactly how Werther should come across or who he really is. With the time gaps and the unseen events it provides for, there is a world to be created. Besides, there are indications as to how certain passages should be expressed, but when I went back to the recording, tough luck in hearing what is written there! At least I understood why none felt really right or why there where bits in each interpretation that didn’t marry how they were sung with what they were saying. In a way it is like with Wagner, if only singing those notes when saying that text where easily possible then perfection would be achievable :-) So I set my expectations about last night at some level of imperfection. I was praying and praying that I wouldn’t end up in a personal conflict with the piece: please don’t make Werther a total whimp, please don’t make Albert into a cold hearted fellow, please let Charlotte be tormented at least a bit between the two. Please let me understand the French so I don’t have to read the surtitles and that I can concentrate on the music. And most of all I wished the music to make sense, to come together and just blow me away.

1er acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

Every wish fulfilled, every dream made reality, even the ones I never dared to have!

It still is an unusual opera for me, as I normally take sides, involuntarily that is, not here, you just can’t. You can’t feel like Werther, or Albert or Charlotte, or rather you can feel and empathise with all. And it doesn’t have an ending you can logically deal with; it’s neither a great injustice done nor does it liberate or solve anything. Things happen because they do and nobody is better off at the end of it. You can’t find resolution or release, or at least I didn’t find it. Werther’s death is only a desperate try to escape from suffering; does it bring him peace? Will he be put to rest where he longs for, among the “tilleuls ? Where does it leave Charlotte and Albert? What will it mean for Sophie, so young, so full of life to know of Werther’s violent end?
All it leaves you with is sadness, endless sadness and even today I still feel the pulls of it now and then… So I can’t say that I like it, it seems an almost inappropriate word to use… but I felt it, with every pore and every breath and find it incredibly hard to disentangle myself from it.

So something, or rather many things must have been done right to create such a strong and lasting impression!

If there is a Werther who I can now hear singing it in my mind, exactly likes it says in the libretto, it is Jonas Kaufmann. Ive heard him sing many things on many occasions but I never before had the occasion to be immersed like this in this …. beautiful garden that is his voice and singing. I’ve seen the strong, bold ruby red roses before, the sweet tender snowdrops, I’ve felt the blue butterflies of his piani touch softly in the air, I’ve seen green moss grow under shady trees… but last night was like waking up under the silvery moonlight in the garden of Eden! With fresh flowers everywhere, with scents binding into each other to create the most intoxicating perfumes and then magically whirling away from each other, for single ones to be admired on their own. And at the very end, when he slowly guided you towards the gate, you stop and slowly turn back, not wanting to leave before taking one last look and in your hand you find the tiny drops of the bluest forget-me-nots, and through your fingers they fall leaving behind just the faintest of smells.

I just can’t think of it or describe it in any other way…It has to be heard and felt and seen to be understood. There are just so many layers to his Werther and although he is heartbroken he is never obvious or predictable. The character, expressed in extremely few gestures , explodes from nowhere or disintegrates into nowhere. This Werther is not tired of life, he is intoxicated with it, tortured by it, tempted with hope and thrown into despair. And at the same time the feelings are never exaggerated, never just on display, it makes you feel almost too shy to watch, that is how intimate it gets. And yet you are unavoidably drawn to him, from the moment he appears on stage to his last breath at the end. You hear and feel the depths bubbling under his surface and just can’t wait for layer after layer to be peeled off to discover what is underneath the next. I understand now the reviews I read, things that seemed out of proportion now barely touch the surface of how Werther comes to life and dies through Jonas Kaufmann. Now I found the Werther I was looking for instinctively all the time. Tough thing is, that every time now that he will be singing it and I won’t be able to hear it I will feel like I’ve been robbed of something very valuable (spoilsport!!!! Méphistophélès should be thy name! – the one from Damnation, because he has the better laugh- because you take something almost banal and make it into something magical and then take it away leaving us empty… )
Dernier acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

In contrast, Sophie Kock’s Charlotte goes through the opposite process somehow, trying to contain her character’s growing emotional turmoil by desperately building up one shield after another, each cracking again and again until, at the final hour she lays her heart next to Werther’s, but alas all too late. She’s a wonderful and very convincing artist and in the third act she was absolutely amazing. Her voice is pleasant and rounded and it is again never displayed but only the instrument to bring Charlotte alive. There was intention in every word, every gesture. I couldn’t imagine this production without her and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to see her as my first. She is unforgettable.

Ludovic Tezier’s Albert is the perfect fit for the trio. Very restrained in the first part, he evolves into a steady and dependent character in the second part. I think he brings across the fact that Albert may act apparently simpler in comparison to Werther and Charlotte, but he is not simple at all. You heard and felt with him assurance, and a man certain of his goals and aspirations, but he always keeps you wondering what more there is behind it. He believes in good and forgiveness, but he is no fool, nor is his love for Charlotte to be taken lightly. The fact that his expression of the feeling is not as ardent as Werther’s is a trait of character, not a measurement of intensity of feeling. In fact, his first lyrical, hopeful arias says it all: « Ah! je voudrais qu'en rentrant Charlotte retrouvât les pensers que je laisse: Tout mon espoir et toute ma tendresse! » Charlotte is his hope in life for happines. He extends a hand to Werther, even tries to help him, by gently suggesting a different happiness possible. But think just how he might have felt, coming back home, feeling already that his wife is having doubts, finding the door to his house open, her totally disturbed and then finding out Werther is back. He is not a man of bold explosions, but he shows how much Charlotte actually means to him by his rash gesture. Or at least this is how I see him and I identified these thoughts perfectly with Tezier’s interpretation. His warm, very elegant voice is nothing but pleasure to listen to! Because for him as for the others the gestures were so contained I look forward to seeing the tv broadcast to get a close up of his expression :-) And I can listen to him again and again and again.
Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) et Sophie Koch (Charlotte)© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer at http://www.forumopera.com/

Alain Vernhes (Bailli) and Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) are a dream of diction and beauty of sound. She was like a blast from the past, such a beautiful reminder of the Thill recording ( there Germaine Feraldy) She is absolutely perfect for the role, a bell like voice, a beautiful and tender presence, with an innocence and candour that makes your ears rejoice and your heart melt!

All behind, or rather in front of it all , Michel Plasson! To me he is a legend, I’ve known about him for so long, I just feel privileged to have been able to have him conduct this Werther. He made me fall in love with the piece, in its whole and all the individual bits. He spun it into an ethereal construction fragile and lace like, that you feared it could disappear if touched. I was surprised how soft and elegant, how romantic and intimate the score could be. It charmed you into listening. And to see at the final applause how happy and proud he is of his singers is soooo touching! (that it made me cry all over again.. as if he hadn’t induced enough dehydration already ;-))) Applause for the wonderful orchestra as well!

The production has beautiful imagery and most of all, a picture-like colour palette, reflecting every characters personality. Simple, yes, but elegant and effective. Everyone looked beautiful, and why shouldn’t they? Having said that it does feel at times just too restrained. I like the tension that build with characters looking at each other from the distance and when silence and steadiness speak a thousand words, but sometimes it was taken a bit too far. I don’t like to feel any singer being transformed into a statue. An there were choices I disagree with: like in the 2nd act when Albert talkes to Charlotte she looks sternly away from him and even draws her hand away when he tries to hold it. That doesn’t make sense, Albert is content, happy about his 3 months of marriage, now he wouldn’t be would the woman next to him have treated him like this for these months. Besides, I think Charlotte cares about Albert and why shouldn’t she? She doesn’t love him maybe as passionately as she ends up loving Werther, but she does care about him. Which only makes her choices more tragic. For me this would have been a better interpretation of things, but it wasn’t this director’s choice, here she clearly and openly rejects him.

Also Werther’s little room in the last scene didn’t quite work, not the room in itself, but the room slowly sliding forward on the inclined stage. For me there is a simple rule, does what you want to do technically work without interrupting or disturbing the music? Does it add value? If the answers are no, just forget it and do something else. It was maybe interesting to see, but not with the sliding mechanisms screeching their way through the musical introduction to the 4th act and all the mechanics showing behind the sliding box.

Other than that I think it was a good production with some really beautiful images that burned themselves into my mind. It all worked well together and the production and we all ,who see it are lucky to hear and see these singers and this conductor! For me personally it was all too much to take in, which is why I think what currently predominates in my mind is the singing and only then the score and the images.

I’ve never heard anything like it ever and I still can’t believe all things considering that I was sitting yesterday listening to this Werther.

By the way I didn’t find the Bastille that big! Big yes, but not as exaggerated reports recount it. My decent priced seat had good acoustics and good view, what can’t be said about other places. Yes balconies are high up, but who said at the top of the amphi in ROH people don’t look like ants?

And yes, I had full on panda eyes at the exit, I started crying out the mascara in the 2nd act and cried again and again. I would have happily wept on with no interruption had it not been for pesky intervals ( I could have done with just one, because it is horrible to interrupt that beautiful atmosphere!) and the absolutely horrendous, neighbours from hell I had!( exception nice familiar face next to my right, she suffered them too!. Behind us a couple who thought when singers don’t sing it is time to chat, even if music is on..and they just kept on and on and on, louder and louder. No amount of stinky eye was able to stop them until about 3 of us turned round and shushed exasperated at the same time.. and then they held their breath for about 30 min and continued… The one to my left had an invitation, showed up after act 1, and as soon as she sat started yawning until her jaw cracked, extending herself, leaning back, leaning forward, rubbing her ears, her forehead and nose, scratching her head and repeating the routine with occasional elbows stuck into my ribs, with no apologies. When applause started she jumped up, she had to be somewhere urgently. To my right next to my friend the coughing couple, she almost coughed her insides out and he was the useless bit next to her. She sounded unwell so she must have known she was making these unearthly sounds… not a bottle of water or any coughing sweets or anything in sight. She was literally less than 2 meters from the door, next to the isle but she never made a move for it until the break, she just kept on coughing and coughing. They don’t seem to have cough sweets there either because she repeated the program all throughout. So whenever I was finally into it, silently crying my heart out, the ones at the back whispered, the one next to me fidgeted and the cougher shared her germs…. It’s not a small wonder I actually was so impressed by the show and got so much out of it… although who knows .. maybe I was just crying in frustration of not being able to kill them and by the end of it kill myself and get it over with. By the way Jonas Kaufmann coughed discretely 2-3 times and sang uninterrupted , why is it too much to ask of dear members of the public to keep still and with their mouths shut???

In case you still have any doubts the applause and Bravo shouts where like a hurricane that came crashing down on all singers and the conductor and many of the people present left the Bastille singing the tunes! No more proof needed that everyone else loved it to bits as well :-)

By the way, I turned to the one singing the Werther aria through the exit door and said in French “it was amazing, wasn’t it?” And he turned to me smilingly and replied: “yes, and he is yours!!” Took me 1 second to process that and I started laughing saying that I wasn’t German, but he is brilliant indeed :-) He had obviously heard me speaking German to someone and meant to congratulate me and tell me I should really be proud to have such an amazing compatriot :-)))

Tears with Tristan und Isolde at the ROH

Photo Bill Cooper at musicalcriticism.com


You all know by now I am a sap and prone to sit teary eyed through opera performances :-) No news here…However, last night’s Tristan und Isolde was to be a different kind of experience.

Today I am not on friendly terms with Mr Wagner! Not at all… but fear not, it is just lovers’ quarrel… I’m sure I will forgive and forget pretty soon :-)

This was my first Tristan und Isolde live and I feel shamelessly privileged for this to have been it! There might be better recordings as I am sure people will point out, but last night was enough to leave me with a memorable experience of it.

Strangely enough it wasn’t the music in itself that moved me to tears, or the story (not during at least) ..it was the final applause and my seat neighbours. The lights in the House went out but I could still make out the shadow of a slowly moving Nina Stemme who helped Ben Heppner up from the stage floor and holding hands they slowly approached the stage edge. The lights went on and they were showered by Bravos and applause among which they shared a warm hug. At which point I cracked under emotions :-) I sniffled my way through all the applause and am happy to say even hoarser than the performances last week left me. Among the boos for the production team the young women sitting next to me asked me: why are they doing this? I said: I have no idea, I guess too modern? She said: Ah, probably… have they not seen it before? Me: No, this is the premiere night. Did you like it? She and her boyfriends said in one breath: Oh yess, very very much! All I could do is nod and smile and quickly look away so they wouldn’t think I must be crazy for crying just then :-)

I’ll explain…

First about the neighbours… they were very clearly first time opera goers and very much in love ;-) Some date, ah? Opera, Wagner, Tristan und Isolde in a minimalist and very atmospheric production, all in German! There can’t be any more proof in the power of music than this! They had very cheap seats, we were all perched up in the lower slips, with a hand rail in front, luckily on the right side of the production so we had the privilege to see the singers all the time. All through the first introduction she was munching on a sandwich from a pretty noisy plastic bag. I though… o God noo, why mee!! Expecting the worse of the night, of course…. However as I was saying they were extremely quiet and watched and listened for 5 hours , half embraced or holding hands to Heppner and Stemme singing the story of Tristan und Isolde. And as you now all know, they absolutely loved it :-) Forgive me therefore if I think this is really romantic and somehow magical :-)

And I had one of my secret wishes fulfilled at least last night. .. have young people come to the opera and absolutely fall in love with it! Those two will be back, I know it!

Why the applause moved me so much? Or rather the singer’s reaction to it? Because I simply think that any singers who gloriously make it through this opera like Stemme and Heppner did last night deserve…. I don’t know what… but something beautiful and wonderful! Because they are survivors!

Which is where I come to my love-hate relationship today with Mr Wagner… what was he thinking??????? Yes, the music is beautiful and especially in the piano bits there are some instrumental solos to die for and be born again! But did he really think singers could get through this score unharmed? Did he ever try to sing it himself? My guess is no… I’ve never before had the sensation when listening to opera that I was witnessing sacrifice , last night I did. Nobody can tell me any singer gets through a Tristan und Isolde unharmed. I understand why they would wish to sing it and why this piece is performed, but I realise what it costs. It’s horrendous really come to think of it. I don’t think the story requires young singers, the intensity of love can be portrayed more convincingly in a more mature stage I life I think, however you need a fairly strong body to get through this. These are parts that will leave scars on your voice and possibly put an end to your singing. Yes, I know there are financial rewards that come with it, but I don’t believe singing like last night’s can be induced by any cheques.

It is a strange piece, I don’t think the libretto is a strong in characterisation like for example the one for Lohengrin. The music is grand and tender and sophisticated but also cruel and ruthless. Scenes are stretched over hours and singers are chained in the middle of the force of the orchestra in the most emotional passages. There is of course the argument that the story can be told in 3 hours rather than 5…. But seeing last night’s performance I wonder if the physiological impact would be the same. At the end of the day the potion induces irreversible and unfulfilable longing, which may only find relief in death. The ending cannot be believable unless you get to feel the intensity of the longing. It has to feel like torture to some point and in 5 hours the impact is achieved.

I think the hardest part is creating the story, making the emotions believable , outside time and almost outside the score. Trying to deliver more than the music, or making the music good enough to let the meaning flourish from within is what this piece needs to come alive. And last night it did!

I haven’t seen either Nina Stemme or Ben Heppner before so I can’t comment on how good they are as actors in general, but they fully inhabited Tristan und Isolde last night. I know people will find weaknesses in the singing ( maybe more with Heppner) but I think that would be unfair. From the very beginning there was a sense of purpose to every phrase, restrained emotion in every step, in every gesture. Even their embraces where touching and transmitted a very believable sense of longing and caring. For me there wasn’t one awkward moment during the 5 hours. I can’t say what was choreography and what was actually Heppner and Stemme becoming Tristan und Isolde. Whatever it was it worked! As to their singing she is absolutely glorious and the voice carries all the power and decision, engagement and pride one would wish from Isolde. Heppner’s voice does show what singing this part does to one, but it is still very very musical and beautiful to listen to and the ever so slight wobble for me is negligible. There weren’t any really harsh parts that I could say bothered me significantly. I am just left wondering what his voice might have sounded like before he sang the part… I can only say I greatly respect and admire him for what he still does with Tristan today.

The other total musical pleasure of the night was Michael Volle’s Kurwenal! A voice equally as warm and as powerful, who rode the orchestra with apparent ease and who created a very believable and engaged portray of a friend. His applause was very well deserved and I really hope we will see him on the ROH stage more often!

Sophie Koch as Brangane was good, but I can’t say I really warmed to either her voice or the character. But it could be due to the character itself, I find Brangane a bit one dimensional and slightly irritating, her only purpose seemingly being he exchange of the potions. John Tomlinson is a better Inquisitor than he is the King Marke, I have to say I missed Matti Salminen here. His king was as a character all he should be and for that he deserves Bravos, it is the voice I’m afraid that just can’t really fill the part anymore.

Pappano once again put his artist fingers on the orchestra strings and managed to convey both the grand and the delicate. He deserves many praise for mastering both the frightening waves and the soft caresses in this music, he showed how beautiful the score is and put another building stone in my appreciation for Mr Wagner and for that I am grateful.

Then there was the production… not at all deserving of booos in my opinion. I don’t know if I love it without reserve, it can be a bit hard on the eyes as very static all over the 5 h stretch. But it does work in creating the appropriate mood and convey the infinite longing as well as the desire to escape into death. What I absolutely loved was Olaf Winter’s lighting, magnificently atmospheric! I think the staging worked with Stemme and Heppner, I am not so sure lesser artists can carry the weight of the grey wall and grey stage floor and simplicity of black clothes as convincingly. The gymnastics around the table in the last act I felt were superfluous. A second chair instead of the table would have done the trick and would have required less effort and concentration on such detail in this most difficult of acts for Tristan. But it is a minor detail, which can be ignored. The blood bath in the end was eerie, but worked, as did the static almost still life images of people in the banquet background.

I don’t know what people want or expect of a Tristan und Isolde staging. It is not like any of the details of place and time really matter to the story. What would more clutter add? Nothing. It would of course add props to support singers in not doing anything else than sing it through. Forgivable in this score. I find this minimalist version more touching and effective, even if it required that extra something from the singers. It can only hope that in future revivals the cast will be able to do as amazing a job as the one I saw last night. Simply unforgettable!


Tristan und Isolde
Tuesday, September 29 5:00 PM
Composer Richard Wagner
Director Christof Loy
Designs Johannes Leiacker
Lighting Design Olaf Winter

Performers
Conductor Antonio Pappano
Tristan Ben Heppner
King Marke John Tomlinson
Isolde Nina Stemme
Kurwenal Michael Volle
Brangäne Sophie Koch
Melot Richard Berkeley Steele
Sailor Ji-Min Park¤
Steersman Dawid Kimberg§
Shepherd Ryland Davies


Nina Stemme Interview at musicalcriticism

Guardian article on Isoldes

And the reviews:
Telegraph
Independent
Times
Musicalcriticism
This isLondon
The Stage
Music OMH
Whatsonstage
Classicalsource
WienerZeitung

Intermezzo
TTTC
Boulezian