The offer of a couple of freebies (via a tortuous route that would take far too long to go into) for this showing at Brighton's arthouse cinema, The Duke of York's, was too good to turn down, so off we went this evening.  I thought I'd post a few thoughts about the presentation and the performance.

First, this was a typical Brighton classical music audience - my wife and I were just about the youngest people in the place, and, as tends to be the way in these parts, stentorian snoring was heard at a couple of quieter points in the music.  And the cinema was no more than a third full - but then with tickets at £30 a pop neither the average age nor the turnout were entirely surprising.

The presentation was reasonably straight - the compere was Susan Graham who interviewed Levine at the end of the first act - no insights here, just a lot of gush about how difficult Tristan is - and Voigt and De Young at the end of the second, both of whom recycled Birgit Nilsson's comment about comfortable shoes in Wagner and summarised their preparations for singing a big role.  The only real point of interest was Voigt commenting that she had sung opposite four different Tristans in the run so far, and had had no rehearsal time with any of them.  There were also interviews with the Met's casting director - a formidable lady with a New Zealand accent who announced that there were only ten people in the world singing Tristan, plus a few others who certainly weren't going to be engaged by the Met - the technical director about the set, and the director of the TV broadcast.

The latter made clear what was already obvious from the first act - this was no attempt to recreate the live experience.  The image was frequently divided up into boxes, showing a wide shot of the stage and close-ups of the singers' faces.  This became increasingly aggravating as the work went on, since the director - who on the basis of the interview had no musical background at all, and had based her concept on watching a couple of videos - failed to find any sense of the rhythm of the music.  Most irritating was the zooming in and out on Isolde during the Liebestod, for no discernible reason.  The set itself was essentially a tent tapering to a point at the back of the stage, with a lozenge-shaped raked wooden floor (it was presumably down this that one of the earlier Tristans rolled into the prompter's box)  The back of the tent constantly changed colour - blue at sea turning to rose-pink when the love-potion was drunk, dark blue in the second act turning yellow when Melot et al arrived on the scene, either grey or blinding white in the final act.  The light-show made up for the apparent lack of a production - although what there was seemed worryingly inconsistent (Tristan and Isolde in a steamy Hollywood-style clinch at the end of Act I but sitting demurely on a bench, barely touching, for their love duet; Voigt's horrendous eye-rolling and mugging in her scene with Tristan in Act One - this is supposed to be a princess and sorceress' daughter expressing a scorching scorn, for heaven's sake, not an Essex girl with a grievance).

The sound was also problematic.  It was seriously compressed and too loud - emphasising the lack of light-and-shade in the exchanges between Isolde and Brangaene in the first act (which brought irresistibly to mind Bertie Wooster's comment about aunt calling to aunt like mastodons bellowing across the primeaval swamp).

Having said all that, there were musically some very good things.  Paul Dean Smith was excellent as Tristan, Eike Wilm Schulte emerged from his shell as Kurwenal in Act III, Matti Salminen still has loads of voice and presence even if his top is sounding very worn.  Levine kept the music moving (apart from the Act 1 prelude which he conducted in six rather than two, and consequently was extremely slow) and the band was good.  The fact that both ladies had a range of dynamics that ranged from f to fff was, to put it mildly, disappointing.

How would I have felt if I had paid for a ticket?  Probably quite disappointed.  It was good, after all, to see the work again, but I really did wonder what my £30 would have bought that I would not have got from the R3 broadcast.

I liked the visuals - I thought the basic idea worked well, and some of the stage-pictures were very beautiful.  My concern was more about the fact that there seemed to be no directorial hand guiding the singers, although in the circumstances that was probably always going to be a problem.  There seemed to be no overall consistent view of how Isolde should be played.

And, yes, tickets were £28.50 each here in Brighton (although cheaper for the other Met shows).  I gather that the turnout was considerably better for some of the other Met showings.

Thanks for your reviews, pw & Ruth.  I find videos of opera/theatre problematic so I'd never dream of paying £30 for one viewing.  I don't think I've ever paid that for a single work on DVD (unless you count The Ring as a single work) and I generally only buy discs of performances I've already seen live, or ones that are worth it just for the sound.

On DAB I got the same impression as both of you re the Tristan, who sounded very good.  The orchestra also seemed in fine form.  Having defended DV as Sieglinde a few weeks ago, I now find I have to be less charitable than either of you about tonight's performance - always assuming it wasn't a fault on my DAB relay.  She just didn't seem to make it to the end.  In the final scene she sounded like she was running out of petrol and by 'höchste Lust' there was just no, well, 'Lust' (in the German sense) left.  I know Isolde's supposed to be dying but this was a bit too literal! I hope DV's not still ill.

As for the dratted audience at the end of Act 1.  I know I shouldn't let it get to me but I spent the whole of the Liebestod wondering if we were going to be allowed to hear the last notes in peace.  This kind of thing will stop me visiting the Met if I ever find myself in NY.

This thread has just prompted me to play my recording of Callas singing "Dolce e calmo.." (aka Liebestod)

Wonderful