Tristan und Isolde

by Richard Wagner

seen at Glyndebourne on 21 August 2021

Robin Ticciati conducts a semi-staged semi-concert series of performances of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with Simon O'Neill and Miina-Liisa Varela in the title roles, Karen Cargill as Brangäne, Shenyang as Kurwenal and (on this occasion) Brindley Sherratt standing in for John Relyea as King Marke.

With restrictions relating to the pandemic still in place when this year's Glyndebourne Festival was planned, and uncertainty about what conditions would prevail during the summer, the organisers wisely concluded that crowding the number of players required to do justice to Wagnerian opera into the orchestra pit was completely impractical. Instead the orchestra dominated the stage while the singers performed in front of them, where the pit had been covered over. Their entrances and exits were unobtrusive and their physical ineractions reduced to a minimum, but a comparison with Nikolaus Lehnhoff's full production mounted as Glyndebourne's first attempt at a Wagner opera shows that the original approach was almost equally minimalist.

The semi-staged version allowed the whole experience to stand or fall on the quality of the music, and with the orchestra and soloists in fine form there was no disappointment. Simon O'Neill in particular showed an apparently effortless control of tone and volume throughout, while Miina-Liisa Varela's performance grew in stature until she delivered a poignant liebestod at the conclusion of Act Three. If the thrill of a fully staged production was missing (especially Lehnhoff's intriguing version), we were at least spared intrusive directorial flourishes and were left to enjoy the sumptuous beauty of the music without distraction. The rapt silence as the concluding chords died away proved that the audience was more than satisfied, and for my part I thought my first visit to Glyndebourne was a success.