Tristan und Isolde

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0000


Dirigent	Leif Segerstam
Text/libretto	Richard Wagner
Regi	Hans-Peter Lehmann
Ljus	Linus Fellbom
Scenografi och kostym	Olaf Zombeck
Tristan	Thomas Sunnegårdh
Kung Marke	Lennart Forsén
Isolde	Nina Stemme
Kurwenal	Gunnar Lundberg d.y.
Melot	Magnus Kyhle
Brangäne	Martina Dike
En herde	Ulrik Qvale
En styrman	John Erik Eleby
En ung sjöman	Ulrik Qvale
Medverkan	Herrar ur Kungliga Operans kör
Medverkan	Kungliga Hovkapellet

Tristan und Isolde

Thu, 18 Apr 2002 00:00:00 +0000


Company	The Royal Opera
Venue	Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Performance status	Revival
Director	Herbert Wernicke
Conductor	Bernard Haitink
Chorus Director	Terry Edwards
Concert Master	Vasko Vassilev
Sailor	Timothy Robinson
Isolde	Gabriele Schnaut
Brangäne	Petra Lang
Kurwenal	Alan Titus
Tristan	Jon Fredric West
Melot	Christopher Booth-Jones
King Marke	Peter Rose
A Shepherd	Peter Auty
A Steersman	Graeme Broadbent

Tristan and Isolde as caged hamsters

There’s something about Herbert Wernicke’s staging of Tristan und Isolde, the first of the Royal Opera’s new productions this season, that reminds me irresistibly of hamsters. Breeding the rodents is a tricky business; they don’t get on very well, and getting a pair to mate has to be approached carefully, bringing them together just for a few minutes to do the business and then separating them before they can kill each other. Wernicke treats these most famous of operatic lovers like that too: his set (he’s done everything, including the lighting) consists of two colour-coded boxes - blue for the boy, blood red for the girl - and Tristan and Isolde are never allowed to leave these domains, as if close contact would cause them to tear each other limb from limb. Even in the second act the hamsters - sorry, the lovers - never approach within 10 yards of each other, never exchange glances; their boxes move suggestively together and the lighting becomes more elaborate as they get worked up, but that’s about it.

Tristan Und Isolde on Walse

Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde

Tristan and Isolde as caged hamsters