[Exactly my take on Viola, from the first LA performances three years ago]
http://tinyurl.com/2d4uwb
Financial Times / May 4, 2007 / Arts
The Tristan Project
Avery Fisher Hall, New York
MARTIN BERNHEIMER
Much ado about pretty much. "The Tristan Project" -- note that
it isn't called "Tristan und Isolde" -- has been percolating in
one form or another for two years on two continents. On Wednesday,
it finally arrived in New York, and the Wagner-starved multitudes
cheered the show. We do mean show.
Essentially this was a concert performance, the sort in which
singers share the stage with the orchestra, flip pages on
music-stands and sip water between solos. But -- a big /but/
-- the orchestra was the fine Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the
conductor was the firebrand Esa-Pekka Salonen. Unfortunately,
the music-makers were dwarfed by a stream of pretty movies created
by Bill Viola, and fussy directorial embellishments were added
by Peter Sellars. It was all oh-so-artsy, oh-so-trendy.
Sound proved more satisfying than sight. Salonen provided
always propulsive if sometimes prosaic leadership, favouring
tension over introspection. At least it was good tension.
Christian Franz, a late replacement for Alan Woodrow, imbued
Tristan with a touch of poetry, and sustained both stamina and
incisiveness in the process. Though officially indisposed,
Christine Brewer managed enough glorious moments to confirm her
exalted place among the thin ranks of contemporary Isoldes.
Anne Sofie von Otter introduced the problematic contrast of a
lightweight, soft-toned Brangane. Jukka Rasilainen roared roughly
as a tough Kurwenal, and John Relyea droned darkly as a youthful
King Mark.
Unfortunately, Viola trivialized the monumental score at every turn. He
illustrated Isolde's narrative and curse with a distracting slow-motion
strip-tease for the protagonists' videogenic doubles, and called the
nudity expose a purification ritual. Elsewhere he splashed irrelevant
water-images across the screen -- endless aquatic ballets and enough
wavy seascapes to induce mass /mal de mer/. Reinforcing the pretentious
claptrap, Sellars dabbled in spatial and acoustic gimmickry, making some
characters pop up in side-loges and banishing the sailors' chorus to the
top balcony. Most telling, the ageless /enfant terrible/ contributed a
chatty programme synopsis that included this gem of enlightenment: "King
Mark was Tristan's first lover." Who would have guessed?
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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