Sometimes people ask me what DVD of "Tristan und Isolde" I recommend, since the opera plays such an important role in my book. It took me a while, in fact, to find a production I wanted to recommend. Although many were very good, it was important for me to get ahold of something that matched my own tastes - if you're going to buy a DVD because of me, I'd rather be thrilled about what I suggest, because even on Amazon.com we're talking about a $45 purchase.
I'm delighted that the 2009 La Scala production - with Wagnerian superstars Waltraud Meier and Ian Storey in the title roles and directed by movie great Patrice Chereau - has turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. Stunning voices that make you gasp, handsomes actors that look the part, and the sleek visual lines of a modern production that doesn't indulge into gratuitous nonsense to feel important, but instead puts the whole staging to the service of the actors. Only caveat: in the third act, the engineer over-indulged in the "fading to black" feature between camera angles. (This doesn't happen in Acts 1 and 2, though.) But if you put up with that very minor inconvenience, you'll get over four hours of pure musical and visual perfection.
No need for any other DVD after that one, and if you care to hear Storey sing Tristan in real life, he'll be in DC in September, opposite the amazing Deborah Voight for the Tristan und Isolde run at the Washington National Opera. Mark your calendars!
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