A Tristan und Isolde death cult, Bayreuth Festival

***

It was supposed to be the highlight of the 2024 season, yet such was the flatness of the production and question marks over the performance of Tristan it was eclipsed by the revival of Tannhäuser which was not even originally scheduled to be staged this year.

I am sure I am not alone in wondering why Bayreuth scrapped its interesting and enjoyable Roland Schwab’s 2022 production for this rather dull new show from Thorleifur Orn Arnarsson. Basically, he seems to have had the idea that it was to do with ships (well I never). Presumably the collection of artefacts that are in the hold of the ship and which are piled into a mound for the finale act has to do with some sort of psychological take on memory, associations, representations, self-reflection. We had a fist through some glass which I think was the melancholic Casper David Friedrich painting rather than a mirror.

The opening has Isolde in a vast wedding dress which she has scribbled on in her misery and from production photography it seems at the end Tristan is similarly graffiti covered, not that you could see any of that from the seats. Vytautas Narbutas’ scenic design has ship ropes hung down from somewhere and poor old Tristan seemingly aimlessly wanders back and forward while Isolde wallows in her grief to Brangäne.  A sailor, sung by Matthew Newlin, sings beautifully as he gazes into, well, nothing really.

Our washed up “lovers” give us a taste of what is to come by staring down into something that is in the middle of the bleak stage. I strained to try to see what was there but to no avail. It was revealed, I think at least, in Act Two when we are one deck down and what he had been trying to make out was a whacking great hole in the deck.

As we then enter what is like the engine room of a steam ship, we see it is full of artefacts ranging from the Greco-Roman past to a modern Roberts-style radio, a photograph of a woman (Isolde?), a painting that Tristan fixates over, a stuffed fox (?) and that wedding dress. Isolde’s trousseau? If so, she could give Dr Who a run as a time traveller. And so, these characters start their journey into this netherworld. Their salvation? Not each other, but the elegant, sympathetic and masterly conducting of Wagner’s score from Semyon Bychkov. The quality of the musicianship is never adequately matched from the stage as this mournful suicide pact seeps the passion and ecstasy from what is of course a weird love story, but a love story none the less.

There seemed a strange weakness in the performance of Andreas Schager in what is, of course, a vast operatic undertaking. His heldentenor was powerful and loud enough for the liking of the Bayreuth audience, but there were moments when it seemed to be struggling towards the finish line. He did manage to keep up the physical momentum. No such problem with Camilla Nylund’s Isolde yet loud rather than beautiful seems to be the order of the day in this production. Fortunately, the always eagerly anticipated Liebestod und Verklärung transcended into a catharsis of emotion.

As often happens with this opera the role of Brangäne gave the mezzo-soprano the space and opportunity to shine and this was certainly true with Christa Mayer.  The role does enjoy the most accessible, melodic singing and the mesmerising off-stage sounds from Mayer and Bychkov’s players was exquisite. Less pleasing was the Kurwenal from Olafur Sigurdarson and while the Bayreuth audience lapped up Günther Groissböck’s smoothly sung, but dramatically nondescript King Marke, it was hard to see quite why.

Are there love potions and poison taken? Who can tell? Some are offered and then swept away, some are swallowed. The pair are now sort of shipwrecked, at least their ship is wrecked and ripped apart, while the Shepherd has sprouted angel wings for some reason.  Tristan and Isolde plunge into ecstasy with one another and both die at the end.

Comparisons are odious and Bayreuth has to keep turning out new takes, but I did keep thinking back to last year’s production. Any port in a storm really was not the case for this disappointing evening.

Until August 26 at the Bayreuth Festival.

https://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/

Tristan und Isolde, Bayreuth Festival 2024 review:http://test.local/reviews/a-tristan-und-isolde-death-cult-bayreuth-festival/

Tannhäuser, Bayreuth Festival 2024 review: http://test.local/reviews/a-refreshingly-intelligent-and-entertaining-tannhauser/