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Opera Review

Tristan and Isolde, Broad and Dark

Lioba Braun as Isolde, left, and Franco Farina as Tristan in Stef Lernous's production at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp.Credit...Annemie Augustijns

ANTWERP, Belgium — Act 1 of “Tristan und Isolde” doesn’t necessarily have to take place on a sailing ship from the Middle Ages. Even a nonmaritime type of conveyance might do. I can imagine the knight Tristan escorting the Irish princess Isolde to Cornwall for her arranged marriage to his sovereign, King Marke, in a corporate jet or even a private railroad car from Wagner’s day. The important thing is that she is being transported against her will to begin a new life in a foreign land. This reality precipitates Isolde’s confrontation with Tristan, in which she persuades him (after a complex succession of events) to drink a death potion with her. Her maid Brangäne, of course, substitutes a love potion.

The production of Wagner’s work that opened the Flemish Opera’s new season here lacks any form of transportation at all. Instead, the first act, in Stef Lernous and Sven Van Kuijk’s designs, is set outside a sleazy movie house. On the sidewalk a shrouded body (we know not whose) has attracted bystanders and the police; an Edward Hopper-style cafe is next to the theater. A search for meaning is surely misplaced, since subsequent settings reinforce the impression that they might as well have been chosen at random. Act 2 takes place in adjacent men’s and women’s restrooms in states of severe disrepair; Act 3 in a chic supper club.

Because the lovers are in separate restrooms, they are denied physical access to each other for their big duet, which proves as frustrating for the audience as it must have been for them. Mr. Lernous, the director, apparently wanted to emphasize that they will be united only in death, and after a fashion so they are. Following Isolde’s “love-death,” Tristan rises from his death bed and the two, looking rather common in Margerita Sanders’s modern costumes, walk off together in what constitutes a prosaic close. The direction of the singers is surprisingly ordinary.

Despite the visual nonsense, the performance offers notable rewards. The company’s music director, Dmitri Jurowski, the 33-year-old younger brother of Vladimir and the son of Mikhail, upholds the honor of this family of conductors with a vibrant reading that persuasively balances emotional impetus with concerns for formal structure. He shows a tendency to linger in passages calling for slow tempos but usually succeeds in making them inspired.

Lioba Braun contributes a first-rate Isolde, full-bodied and darkly hued in the tradition of mezzo-soprano exponents of the role like Waltraud Meier. Ms. Braun shows a fine ability to spin out long phrases with a smooth legato, and high notes are solidly in place. The production’s oddities do not preclude her credibility as an actress. She is well matched by the tenor Franco Farina’s stirring Tristan; he brings welcome attributes of an Italian specialist — lyricism and vocal ring — to the demanding role. His Tristan may not be the last word interpretively, but he sings expressively and never tires. With solid support from Martina Dike (Brangäne), Martin Gantner (Kurvenal) and Ante Jerkunica (King Marke), this “Tristan” comes musically to life.

The Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, like the Flemish Opera, ranks a notch below Belgium’s leading opera company, the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, and it gives fewer performances than the Flemish Opera, whose productions are also seen in Ghent. Yet with 10 titles in its repertoire, it offers more to choose from than any opera company in the United States other than the Metropolitan in New York.

The Opéra Royal’s opening-night performance brought a production as startlingly conventional as the Flemish Opera’s “Tristan” is eccentric. Verdi’s early opera “Attila,” as befits its subject about the fifth-century Hun warrior and his exploits in Italy, is not one of the composer’s most subtle. Here it is seen in a rough-and-tumble staging that constitutes something of a throwback.

To direct the opera the company turned to Ruggero Raimondi, a noted Attila during his long career as a bass. Here was a chance — one is tempted to think — for a singer to redress the balance after years of following the dictates of overly imaginative directors. Mr. Raimondi’s direction is relentlessly straightforward, with singers called upon, for example, to begin a cabaletta at center stage and then approach the footlights to repeat it. Daniel Bianco’s sets recall the lavish style of Ezio Frigerio with an emphasis on ornately carved columns and ominous cloud formations. Laura Lo Surdo’s costumes accord handsomely with the décor.

Still, Mr. Raimondi knows how the piece should go, and with the help of a strong cast it unfolds with old-fashioned gusto. Despite his status as a barbarian, Attila shows greater nobility than the scheming Italians who effectuate his demise, a point that could hardly go unmade given Mr. Raimondi’s experience with the role. Fortunately, Michele Pertusi’s rich singing and patrician bearing prove to be ideal. He also brings out Attila’s psychological vulnerability in relating his vision of the Roman bishop confronting him at the gates of the city.

Makvala Aspanidze sings vigorously as the woman warrior Odabella, who is determined to avenge her father’s death at Attila’s hands. Although her singing is often strident, she delivers her stirring phrases extolling the bravery of Italian women excitingly. Giuseppe Gipali brings an exceptionally attractive lyrical tenor and fine sense of style to Odabella’s lover Foresto. Also excellent is the baritone Giovanni Meoni as the Roman general Ezio, who turns against Attila after the latter rebuffs his proposal to allow Attila to control the entire world so long as Italy is ceded to him.

Adding to the evening’s sense of Italianità is the idiomatic conducting of Renato Palumbo, who leads an exhilarating performance even if some tempos are too fast.

Tristan und Isolde. Flemish Opera.In Antwerp, through Oct. 5, and in Ghent, Oct. 17 through Oct. 26.

A version of this article appears in print on   in The International Herald Tribune. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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