Rating: 
Summary: A visual and auditory feast for widescreen TV owners
Review: OK, you don't have to have a plasma TV to enjoy this DVD. But if you do have one, or are considering buying one, this is probably the first DVD you should buy, at least if you like Wagner. Or, if you don't know Wagner yet, this DVD may well convert you. I splurged on a plasma TV mostly to get more out of my music DVD collection, only to find out that all but three of my 45-some opera DVDs are in conventional 4:3 picture format. Either you have to watch them with those unsightly bars on both sides to get the correct proportions, or distort the side areas of the picture to make it fit the wide screen.
What a delight to watch a widescreen opera DVD specially enhanced for 16:9 TVs! Any small gripes some might have about unconventional staging or orange sofas, or whatever, will dissolve instantly in the panoply of color and facial expression that unfolds before your eyes. While at the end of each act the camera moves back to reveal (to our surprise, the first time) that we are actually in an opera house, through most of the video we see only a close-up of the stage-set and the performers. In fact, for much of the opera the faces of the singers fill most of the screen, so that you could count the hairs in Jon Fredric West's beard or even the fillings in his teeth if you felt so inclined. These facial close-ups allow us to participate in the emotional experience of the characters to a degree that is difficult in a live performance -- even with opera glasses or binoculars. This in turn helps draw us deeper into the etherial beauty and unrelenting intensity of Wagner's music, which weaves richly around and through the arioso vocal lines of the performers. West's tenor performance throughout is absolutely superb, especially in the scenes in Act III where, wounded and distraught, he anxiously awaits Isolde's return. Meier's performance as Isolde is also unforgettable, and the rest of the cast is of equally high calibre. The music -- some of the most hauntingly beautiful ever written -- is performed by the Bayerische Staatsorchester, masterfully conducted by Zubin Mehta. Mehta is also the conductor of another of the relatively few widescreen opera DVDs on the market -- Puccini's Turandot. As widescreen TVs grow more and more popular, I hope that it won't be long before the technology of opera DVDs catches up with that of movie DVDs. There is so much more potential in the new audio-visual technologies than is being tapped by the current stream of re-releases of old opera videotapes in DVD format, as precious as many of these old performances are. An example of the new "21st century" style of opera DVD is the recording of Handel's "Tamerlano" performed in 2001 at the 50th Handel-Festspiele in Halle on the Saale, released in a beautifully packaged 2-DVD set by ArtHaus in August, 2002. In addition to the 192 minute opera (with subtitles in 4 languages), the set includes the film "The Making of Tamerlano" with four language options, score plus, interviews, an interactive chronology, and historical film footage from previous Handel festivals. The DVD is in 16:9 format and offers 5.1 surround sound as well as PCM. Unfortunately, this state-of-the-art set is not presently available (as of January 2003).
Rating: 
Summary: Miraculously bad.
Review: The back cover promises this performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" to be refreshingly controversial. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to realize that there is a difference between what is controversial and what is simply bad. Before I even get started, let's take a look at the performers themselves and some of the technical stuff: The setting, decoration and costumes are completely ridiculous. This is where the fine line between controversial and bad must be drawn. The lighting is okay but a bit bright. For some reason, all throughout Isolde's "mild und leise" we are graced by view upon endless view of her tongue, which appears to be purple. This was endlessly distracting. The sound is superb. Thank you. Tristan is played by Jon Frederic West, the worst tenor I have ever heard. He mispronounces just about everything. He sounds as though he's in tremendous pain when he sings. He almost never looks at Isolde, especially when singing, instead choosing to look--out into the audience, I guess. I saw him spit more than once. "So stürben wir um ungetrent," one of my favorites in all of opera, is completely ruined by his idiotic staring at whatever it is he finds so interesting in the audience, his terrible pronounciation, and complete lack of phrasing. Isolde is played by Waltraud Meier. She does a much more convincing job than West, and she can most certainly sing. Her acting is much better and, unlike West, she seems to be genuinely affected by the love potion. She is certainly one of the better things about this performance. Brangäne is played by Marjana Lipovsek. She has a good singing voice but her acting leaves a lot to be desired. Now for the performance. This is an absolutely terrible performance of one of my favorite operas. It is a disgrace to watch. Observe: The vorspiel, very nicely played if you don't mind the fact that the orchestra is never anywhere near Mehta's beat, ends and the curtain opens to reveal an amazingly bland white and blue set (the yacht--yes, yacht--is all white and the sky is blue). Isolde stands in what is probably one of the most terrible dresses I've ever seen, looking on. Brangäne is in a lounge chair, sipping from a cocktail glass (the potion is later served in a cocktail glass) and reading.. whatever it is, it looks stolen from a 70's disco. She wears a dress that is, in theory, even uglier than Isolde's but at least it's tastefully ugly. In walks the sailor who sings the opening, wearing a stereotypical white and black (dark blue?) sailor's uniform. He just walks in and stands there, singing and looking as though he feels that he just walked into the wrong room and staring at Isolde stupidly. At this point I closed my eyes until I heard this absolutely terrible tenor, opening my eyes to see what is apparantly Tristan, who has shaving cream on half of his face and is wearing this stupid purple velvet robe you would expect to see on a pimp. The second act.. look, I don't know where in the world Isolde and Brangäne are supposed to be, but it's an ugly smear of a whole lot of purple and a lot of ugly pastel colors. Isolde is still wearing the hideous dress but has a blue cape-thing over it. They do a pretty nice job until Isolde goes off to get the torch, which is.. what looks like a piñanta some junior high art class threw together. After she "puts out the torch" by throwing it off stage, she takes off the cape-thing and spreads it out on the ground to show that the it is covered with what looks like moons and stars. She squirms ecstatically upon this cape-thing until something is thrown out on stage and Tristan enters, howling away and still wearing that stupid purple velvet robe. They converse and Tristan walks off stage.. to push out into the middle of the stage this ugly yellow couch covered with red flowers. It is upon this couch that they sing the duet to the night. The third act goes by relatively tamely if you don't mind Tristan's terrible singing. The action proceeds as expected until Tristan "dies".. and then the next thing we know, Tristan and Isolde are standing there, holding hands! Then Tristan sits down on the stage and Isolde sings "mild und leise" to him. The aria ends and they join hands, walk off stage, and then the curtain opens to reveal two coffins. I guess this is supposed to be symbolism of some kind--that in death they "live on," so to speak, through their love. Whatever. It's a nice idea but looks completely ridiculous in how it's executed. Let's see. An idiot sailor who looks lost, some of the worst costuming ever, a pathetic Tristan, horrid sets, and.. that couch. Seriously, folks. It's one thing to be controversial and look at a piece in a new light, it's quite another to be completely tasteless and simply very very very bad. Thank god I was able to rent this from my college's music library, for free, instead of wasting my money on it. What do I think? One star. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Not so hot Tristan und Isolde
Review: The major problem with this is Waltrude Meier as Isolde. She is essentially a mezzo and she sounds it in this production, with sad results, as she attempts the soprano heights the role demands at every turn of the page of the score. This is terrible, because Deborah Voight and Jane Eaglen are out there with the proper voices and are not recorded on Cd or DVD. The rest of this cast is OK, but it's tenth rate all the way, with
tired out conducting of an underpowered orchestra. Buy Lohengrin with Eva Marton and Leonie Rysanek, and wait for the better manifestation of this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: .... and a Goddess descends from Valhalla!
Review: The spectacular WALTRAUDE MEIER is BRILLIANT in this avant-garde production of Wagner's epic love-story. Granted, for the traditionally minded devotee this is an unusual production, startling, innovative, FRESH! We need more productions like this - get rid of the mothballs and take flight! I anticipate the paring of Ms. Meier and Paul Groves in the future - now that would be quite sublime. Impresarios take note!
Rating: 
Summary: Foolishness
Review: There is so much to hate about this insipid production that it is easy to miss what's good about it. Namely, Waltraud Meier. But this great singing actress's fascinating voice and spectacular cheekbones are completely lost in the nonsense of this production. This is an anti-production, which means that just about any concept you can imagine on the stage would be better than this. The first act opens on the deck of a wacky post-postmodern yacht complete with lounge chairs and cocktails (in frosted glasses with straws -- these will later be used to foist the love potion upon us). Think Miro's drunken nightmare of sad-clown velvet paintings. Isolde's costume couldn't be more distracting. It is supposed to be a wedding dress. This shabby schmatta hangs like a thrift shop special, unaccountably decorated with what appear to be hot-pink felt hearts glued haphazardly to dirty sleeves. But even all this is overcome by Meier's miraculously ferocious singing. As Tristan, on the other hand, West can't sing to save his soul. He plays the knight as a big blustery fratboy as he barks out the music, so strained in some places that one fears for his heart. Until he drinks the potion, he seems to believe that he's about to get lucky. To make matters worse, half his face is covered with shaving cream for most of the act (we are supposed to imagine that Isolde has inconsiderately interrupted his toilette). The second act begins with more promise, on a big purple and green set with Isolde much more handsomely dressed. A big yellow sofa splotched with more pink hearts noisily appears, however, only to be thrown upside down by the now seriously stressed tenor. It's hard to describe how bad he is. Moreover, when the two start to get busy, climbing all over the couch, he takes off her gown to reveal the absurd 1st act wedding dress again! The third act sports what the cover calls an "optimistic" ending (!?!?!?!). Meier's passionate Liebestod is marred by a still living Tristan stupidly grinning as she sings it. The last tableau, after they have wandered blissfully off the stage, of two white coffins, comes off as a senseless nod to the meaning of the text. Marjana Lipovska, as Brangaene, is good actress, but her voice is strained. Kurt Moll's King Mark is stolid and predictable. Weikl is way beyond his prime, and his Kurvenal falls apart shortly after he opens his mouth in the first act. The good news is, we probably won't have to endure long in a world where this is the only DVD of Tristan. The Met's great production was on TV last month, so it's likely to be released sooner than later. Pray for relief.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful Tristan and young Tristan
Review: Very exciting production in the musical thing. Good interpreters and a not genial master but expert and knowledgeable of the secrets of the musical theatre, conductor Zubin Mehta. The production of the Opera of Munich is slightly shrill in the use of hot colors that counter laughs the moments by night like it is the Act II, and slightly nobly in the freedoms with the libretto (waiter with drinks instead of the sailor of the beginning Act I and ambulant sofa forthwith the Act II). Nevertheless, it does not betray the fundamental thing and the solution of the end is adapted to the character of the music and text. They are the interpreters those who motivate passions. The Isolda de Waltraud Meier is simply perfect. When the King Marke goes to her indicating her " nobility and sublime grace ... " she wears shoes wonderfully with his "look". Initially her voice is not heard well, but seemingly it is a problem of microphones because her voice and singing refulgen in the party with her woman's transfiguration hurt to immaterial lover. The Jon Fredric West's Tristan is seemingly very young, an almost a teenager, though he is taller than his Isolda, with what he does not stay in scenic disadvantage. He solves with valor all his singing, and seems to be miraculous that works out alive of the great monologue of the act III. An ovation is gained well-deservedly. The performance of the lovers is good and captivating. The King Marke de Kurt Moll is surprising because this veteran sings to any voice with pain and bonhomie as his personage. The Kurwenal and Brangaene make the work with rigor and good singing, nevertheless it is disappointing in case of Weikl, with his caché and experience (he intervened in the recordings of Karajan and Bernstein), his little strengthen in the scenic and facial performance. Brian Large's direction is like always, commits an outrage against the details developers and the first planes, without forgetting the global spectacle. The sound, marvellous.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE WALTRAUD
Review: Well, this may not br the greatest Tristan ever recorded but is is the best visual experiance of this opera I have seen. Done in Munich, Metha conducting. Waltraud Meier is a beautiful Isolde. Where has she been all my life. I want more of her.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible production and second rate singing
Review: When I saw this DVD in my local DVD store, I was so excited to finally have a performance of Tristan und Isolde on DVD. I knew one of the solists from previous recordings, Kurt Moll. When the overture was over, I was surprised, to say the least, to see a luxary liner instead of Tristan's boat. Hearing Waltraud Meier as Isolde was a pleasure, but that is where the pleasure ended. To see Isolde and Brangaene act in that set and wearing these horribly ugly dresses. The Brangaene of Marjana Lipovsek was ok, though. Ok was also Bernd Weikl as Kurwenal. But when I heard Jon Fredic West, I was REALLY put off. He is proberbly the worst tenor I have heard. The few notes he sang with reasonable clarity had words in them that sounded like he didn't believe them. As for rest of the notes, he shouted and barked them out with even more unconvincing delivery of the words. While watching this, I longed for the beauty and undstanding of Melchior and Vickers. It wasn't until the end of Act 2 that one really good artist walked in on the stage. Kurt Moll, one of best basses of the last 20 years. His reading as Marke was so heartfelt, powerful and understanding, that I was really moved with him. Considering West, it was like I wished Marke to have Isolde instead of the horrible Tristan. The setting of Act 2, was in a garden full of pastel colors. But the settings in the first two acts were beautiful compared to the horribly horrible setting of Act 3. The action took place in an apartment with a window, and in the background were slides, that had nothing at to do with the story, shown. I wished that the third act would be over and so the performance. And mirroring the sets, West was equally bad. His barking and shouting continued. One can ask why I bothered to see through the whole thing if it was so bad. The only answer I can give is that I wanted to see Meier sing Isolde's Liebestod in addition to listening to the gloriously sung Marke again. And when Meier started to sing her Liebestod finale, West was seen in front of her standing and smiling to her, and at the end they closed the curtain and then the curtain opened again showing two coffins. That ending also really put me off. The conducting of Zubin Mehta was staightforward and quite good. The sound was good and the picture quality was also excellent, being 16x9 enhanced. This Tristan und Isolde performance's only redeeming quality was Kurt Moll. Although Waltraud Meier was also quite good, I longed for the beauty and power of Kirsten Flagstad, Nanny Larsen-Todsen and Birgit Nilsson.
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