Review of Tristan und Isolde – Wagner in concert sees Pappano and the LSO at their best | Classical music

TThe London Symphony Orchestra’s regular concert performance has become something special. Janacek’s The Makropulos Affair and Strauss’s Salome he had critics who insisted on the high interpretation of the orchestral music and the brutally arranged drama. But few theaters are designed for the concert hall Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. The composer called it a Conspiracy (action or plot), yet Tristan stands out even in the midst of his heavy duties for his lack of action. No one else embodies his idea that operas should be “visual musical performances”. Tristan’s final act comes from the orchestra.

Using soft hands that you can stroke a cat (no sticks here), Antonio Pappano laughed at the beginning of being – slow, delicate, clear. Over the next four years of music, much was discovered that was often destroyed or lost when the orchestra sank below the stage. There were strong double-bass strokes and an oboe trill that cut straight into the symphonic genre. There was a horn that I had never heard before and the swirling, swirling sound of the bassline allowed it to stand out more than usual. The strings were instantly clear, the sound instantly hard or cashmere-soft, their sound plucked hard or light as silk in the wind. Drake Gritton’s cor anglais solos from the back of the balcony and the front of the stage were brilliant, his tone beguiling.

The song was very mixed. In his 20th tour as Tristan, tenor Clay Hilly he was bubbly – incredibly loud at times, but he could also be sweet. Where ever Hilley did, his Isolde, Sarah Jakubiakhe was making his official debut and watching the results, when Marina PrudenskayaMuscular, covered in Brangane moves continuously but not in form. Jakubiak’s marmoreal soprano however spoke persuasively of Isolde’s anger in one way and held her own in the decibel game: this is a role she has made herself. Franz Josef Selig he gave King Marke’s excellent German voice and accent; Gyula Orendt was a flexible, compassionate Kurwenal. Perhaps the tenors and basses of the London Symphony Chorus were a little more ambitious than usual from backstage. But the inevitable star of the concert was the LSO alone, combined with the final pieces into one solid instrument played by one of our Wagner fans today.