Opera Reviews
28 March 2024
Untitled Document

Jennifer Wilson thrills as Isolde



by Catriona Graham
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Welsh National Opera
Edinburgh International Festival
August 2012

Concert performances of Wagner operas are more common at the Edinburgh International Festival than staged performances and this year's offering was Welsh National Opera's Tristan and Isolde.

It was very much a concert performance. Although the sailor (Simon Crosby Buttle) sang off-stage and Brangäne's tower was the top of the organ gallery, there was minimal acting. The men of the Welsh National Opera Chorus provided the sailors for Act 1, singing robustly. Susan Bickley was a sweet-voiced Brangäne, deliciously subversive when reminding Isolde of her mother's box of potions. As King Marke, Jan-Hendrik Rootering had tremendous gravitas and Simon Thorpe was a convincing Melot.

When the orchestra was at full blast in Act 2, Ben Heppner as Tristan was a bit shouty , so it sounded more like a domestic than a love scene - though, in quieter passages, he was most tender. In fact, his voice cracked a couple of times on top notes. However, after the interval (and, no doubt, a good gargle) he definitely hit form in Act 3 and his singing was full, rich and impassioned. Similarly, Phillip Joll (Kurwenal) improved as the performance wore on.

As Isolde, Jennifer Wilson was excellent. She just sang with, apparently, no effort. She had some ringing top notes and her Liebestod was simply thrilling.

Conductor Lothar Koenigs seemed - as far as this reviewer could see - to sing the entire opera himself, coaxing the delicacy of phrasing from his principals as well as from the orchestra. At the same time, when called for, he achieved volume which meant that this concert was one where the nightly fly-past for the Tattoo was not heard.

And a special mention for Max Speirs, the cor anglais soloist, whose gorgeous Act 3 solo was accompanied by an unbelievable cacophony of coughs and fidgets.

Text © Catriona Graham
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