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SF Opera's 'Tristan and Isolde' soars
Oakland Tribune, Oct 7, 2006 by Georgia Rowe, MEDIANEWS
WAGNERITES and neophytes alike were in a state of bliss Thursday night at the War Memorial Opera House, induced by the San Francisco Opera's splendid opening-night performance of "Tristan und Isolde." The company hadn't presented Wagner's 1865 opera since 1998, but it's been much longer than that since Bay Area audiences have seen and heard the work come together in a production so brilliantly conceived and thrillingly integrated.
Thursday's mesmerizing performance, led with unerring focus and coordination by S.F. Opera music director Donald Runnicles, was a dynamic marriage of vocal, dramatic and musical elements. The David Hockney production, created for Los Angeles Opera and new to San Francisco, continues in five additional performances through Oct. 27.
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Finding capable singers for Wagner's operas has never been easy, particularly in the composer's epic tale of doomed love between a Cornish knight and the Irish princess betrothed to his king. The opera's superhuman vocal demands -- not to mention its gargantuan, nearly five-hour running time -- have been the undoing of many an aspiring vocal artist. The great achievement of this production is how well it's cast, down to the smallest roles.
Still, any "Tristan" rises or falls on the strength of its two death-obsessed protagonists. In Christine Brewer and Thomas Moser, the company has singers with the voices -- and the stamina -- to deliver Wagner's score with passion, intelligence and soaring musical line.
Brewer was especially impressive. Singing the first staged Isolde of her career -- she's done the role in concert
and recently recorded it with Runnicles -- the soprano used her large, beautifully colored voice to arresting effect. Floating easily over the orchestra, Brewer revealed gleaming top notes in the Act I narrative and curse, blended ecstatically in the Act II love duet and infused the "Liebestod" with tenderness and wonder.
Moser, her Tristan, was perhaps not as precise, especially in his early scenes. But the tenor sang heroically as the night went on -- firm and elegant in the "Liebesnacht," vigorous and dramatically cogent in the deliriums of his harrowing Act III death scene.
The rest of the cast, which featured two prominent debuts, was just as fine.
Mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin, making her U.S. opera debut, was a clear, warm-voiced Brangane. Baritone Boaz Daniel (another U.S. debut) was a forceful Kurwenal.
Bass Kristinn Sigmundsson, who is also appearing as Sparafucile in S.F. Opera's "Rigoletto" this month, brought resonant authority to the role of King Marke.
Tenor Sean Panikkar sang handsomely in the dual role of Sailor and Shepherd, and tenor Matthew O'Neill was an articulate Melot.
Hockney's designs, strikingly lit by Duane Schuler, gave the opera an enchanting fairy-tale atmosphere, beginning with the sleek lines, primary colors and ancient runic accents of the Act I shipboard scene. The steeply raked stage posed problems for more than one singer, but director Thor Steingraber did an excellent job of keeping movement simple and effective, making the action revolve around the principals and using silhouettes and stylized poses to create iconic moments.
Still, it was Runnicles who set and maintained the evening's gold standard. The conductor's past triumphs in Wagner's music have been many and well-documented, and yet the vitality, the expansiveness, the lush Romanticism of his approach Thursday amounted to something truly unforgettable.
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