In a triumphant ‘Tristan and Isolde,' time stands still (for four hours)

Washington Post

02-06-2025

PHILADELPHIA — On Sunday afternoon at Marian Anderson Hall, Yannick Nézet-Séguin led his Philadelphia Orchestra through the four-hour entirety of Richard Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde.' And I don't think I'm overdoing it to say that once it was over, it felt like something Very Important had just happened.
Maybe that's because there were several bits of history in the mix — the sort of things that outside the context of opera's most tormented tragedy would qualify as 'fun facts': In addition to being the first Wagner opera that Nézet-Séguin has led with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this was his first time conducting 'Tristan and Isolde' in full. (His second will take place on Sunday, when the program repeats.)
Additionally, this is the orchestra's first performance of 'Tristan' since 1934, when it gave the U.S. premiere of the uncut version of the opera, with Hans Grahl singing Tristan and Marga Dannenberg as Isolde.
One more: The orchestra uses and in all of the materials where it mentions the title, but I keep typing und.
But more than these tidbits, I suspect the palpable heft of the moment as we all mopped our cheeks and filed out through the plaza of the Kimmel Center was due to what we'd just heard — a finely wrought, fully realized performance of 'Tristan' that will reside in my mind as one of the greatest things I've ever heard. And I say 'fully realized' knowing that it wasn't — a good concert performance of an opera makes you forget it's 'just' a concert, and this was one of those. A few folks I spoke to during one of two intermissions even expressed surprise at their relief, freed as they were from extraneous concepts and undue time travel.
Light and effective stage direction was provided by Dylan Evans, situating the singers on a platform above the orchestra, where they indeed roiled like the sea beneath Tristan's ship in the first act. If I make it back to Philly this weekend to do it all over again, it will be because of this highly concentrated, assiduously performed and gorgeous-sounding concert treatment.
This was also a performance that looked forward. In March of 2026, Nézet-Séguin will lead the opera at his other home base, the Metropolitan Opera, where Yuval Sharon's new production will star tenor Michael Spyres and soprano Lisa Davidsen in the title roles. But Sunday offered a unique and rewarding chance for listeners to get acquainted with Nézet-Séguin getting acquainted with 'Tristan,' an effort that often had him on tiptoes, and not just to show off his Louboutins.
Composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in 1865, 'Tristan and Isolde' is Wagner's telling of the tale of an Irish princess and a Breton nobleman, drawn together through violence and vengeance but ultimately bound in passion by a potent potion — their love in betrayal of a royal betrothal and defiance of the physical world itself. Were it not for the score's relentless climb, it would be heavy stuff.
But from the slow, graceful assembly of themes in the first act to the blissful revelation (and resolution) of its final moments ('Liebestod'), Nézet-Séguin kept his players alive, attentive and attuned to Wagner's singular palette of colors. He stoked Wagner's 'fierce and terrible yearning' in storms of brass and scathing strings; but he also coaxed long stretches of impossible delicacy from the orchestra. The quietest parts were louder than the loudest.
For Philadelphians who love their orchestra, it was a also a celebration of individual players. Principal viola Choong-Jin Chang had a sensational long afternoon, as did concertmaster David Kim. From an upper tier, Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia offered an entrancing lament on English horn in the third act, followed by Jeffrey Curnow, sounding the Holztrompete to indicate the long-awaited approach of Isolde by sea.
One other fact (slightly less fun) is that these concerts in Philadelphia mark soprano Nina Stemme's final turn in the role of Isolde for the complete opera. The Swedish-born soprano first sang the part at Glyndebourne Festival in 2003 under the guidance of Birgit Nilsson. Two decades later, Isolde seems to reside within her body, her incandescent high notes just one feature of her ample arsenal. Stemme's voice can plunge like a blade (as it did in Act 1, as Isolde hungers for revenge) or leap in orgasmic ecstasy (as it did in Act 3's 'sun drenched day of bliss'). But more than anything, she maximized the tension that keeps the opera's massive emotional arc intact.
Tenor Stuart Skelton was a sensational Tristan — his voice big and booming yet surprisingly lithe and lean. The resignation in an aria recounting his tormented past — which did sometimes lose him in the wash of the music — showed canny restraint as he unleashed his full force into the great collapse of Act 3.
Mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill was endearing and fiery as Brangäne, switcher of potions and (otherwise) protector of Isolde. She's a mighty mezzo, fully present even when singing from the topmost tier, and gifted with strong, expressive instincts. Her 'Beware!' certainly worked on me, if not on Isolde. Baritone Brian Mulligan was also impressive as Tristan's right-hand man Kurwenal, though the role seemed to take a physical toll on him, a white-knuckle tension attending his hard, steely singing.
I quite enjoyed bass Tareq Nazmi, who beautifully rendered King Marke's heartbreak over Tristan's betrayal by leaving shadows of his undermined authority intact. Tenor Freddie Ballentine was smart and affecting as royal tattletale Melot. The tenors and basses of the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, directed by Donald Palumbo, made bracing contributions as a gang of 'sailors, knights and esquires,' depending on the act.
If four hours of focused listening sounds demanding, the average concertgoer need not worry: The run time only makes a difference before the concert starts, when you're making your reservations for the dinner you will absolutely need afterward. In the midst of 'Tristan and Isolde,' time itself seems to come undone — Wagner recalibrates fleeting moments into endless eternities (and vice versa). Like the composer's intermingling themes and the lovers themselves, I left transfigured — the potion has yet to wear off.
Richard Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde' repeats Sunday at Marian Anderson Hall, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. philorch.ensembleartsphilly.org.