SANTA FE, N.M. — The play of light has always been part of the show. Santa Fe Opera: The spectacular open-sided theater in the foothills makes the sky darker, the stars brighter, and even the flashes of a distant storm creating drama.
But Santa Fe’s gloriously modest, lovingly loyal new “Tristan and Isolde” Summerhouse’s first Wagner for more than 30 years, the composer’s only foray into drama beyond “The Flying Dutchman,” where light moves center stage.
Day and night are at the heart of Tristan, the former representing the dazzling and intrusive reality that Tristan and Isolde struggle to escape in love, the latter representing Tristan’s freedom, liberty, passion and, ultimately, oblivion. .
There was a time when that trope was at least somewhat expendable. Given the singer’s endurance, Wagner’s longest discussion of philosophical metaphors in the second act was traditionally cut.
But the incompatibility of the worlds of light and darkness is taken up as an organizing principle in Santa Fe’s “Tristan”, with subtle predictions by Greg Emmetaz. build on Smart lighting by John Torres.Co-Director of Hot Shots Lisenka Heyball Castañon When Zack Winokerit contrasts bright whites with pure blacks, often living in shades in between.
The result is filled with striking and poignant imagery. We see Tristan as a towering silhouette, a projection through which, say, Isolde can resolve her grievances. The image finds echoes hours later, as the absent Isolde’s shadow roams the walls of Tristan’s hallucinating mind.
As Isolde is trapped on a voyage to marry King Marke, much of the first act takes place inside a cramped box of light. A spotlight follows her as she explores the encroaching darkness to avenge the murder of Moroldo, the mortal. She was already in the dark of night when Tristan finally decided to see her. It doesn’t take a potion for them to fall in love—just reveal what they already know.
These kinds of touches are mildly suggestive, suggesting more of a vibe than pretending to be a grand interpretation. But that’s the point. Dutch-Peruvian director Hibor Castagnon was credited with assisting Pierre Audi with this opera in Amsterdam, and Winokur rose to fame as artistic director of the rebellious American Modern Opera Company. ing. Or, ironically, or rendered illegible with inexplicable symbolism.
Heijboer Castañón and Winokur offer no dramatic intervention in the plot, only subtly understood as a tale of friendly and erotic intimacy. Some props present are used lightly.A spare set from a blueprint by an architectural firm Charlap Hyman & Herreroconsists of four angled walls of mottled gray color. Carlos J. Soto Rather than declaring distance as a goal, the costume alludes to abstraction.
There’s a refreshing sense of credibility to all of this, and a wise desire to get out of the way of a basically human narrative that remains evident in these young collaborators.
And why?
James Gaffigan, normally exuberant on the lectern, the first run of Wagner’s complete opera, pushed the drama hard, triggering a fiery intensity that supplied an energy the staging tended to resist. But it wasn’t hard. He was a muscular and quick take on the score, fortunately for a show that ended just after midnight.
Much like what makes Wagner the habit rather than the exception here, more experience brings more purposeful harmonies and thematic direction, perhaps more purpose for transitions and a greater willingness to linger. Maybe.I’m playing. Either way, the signs are promising for Gaffigan. in charge Next year will be the Komische Oper in Berlin.
I don’t care about the future when it comes to sopranos tamara wilson.She’s famous as Verdian and she’s going to sing Elsa Next spring, at the Metropolitan Opera’s “Lohengrin”, Sieglinde Shortly thereafter in Vienna. This Isolde was powerful enough yet ideally textually accurate, confirming that she was already quite the Wagnerian.
Hunted down, angry, spiteful, fearful, anxious, agitated, mesmerized, serene, each in turn — Wilson’s portrayal, like Jamie Burton’s epic Brangäne portrayal, is as poignantly singable. It was a performance that was as dignified as it was. I paid constant attention to that principal.
A heavy stage presence, Simon O’Neill struggled with its lavish focus in the first two acts. By the third time he outdid himself, but the sharply compressed quality of his voice still seemed less suited to Tristan than some of the roles he took on. service to Wagner.
With Nicholas Brownlee’s outrageous loudness, otherwise great Carwenal Dutch David Alden’s production set for next season here further clarified O’Neil’s frequent problems with slicing the orchestra. The moving ease of Eric Owens’ King Marque similarly highlighted the lofty, self-conscious singing of the tenor.
But with Wilson dominating it by the power of his voice and the clarity of his personality, this is a “Tristan” that seems rightly alluding anyway, and claims nothing, and thus the peculiarity of this idiosyncratic work. The name should be shortened to “Isolde”. And it is Isolde who is reserved for the final coup. As the music of her transformation is resolved, the walls of the set open and Wilson quietly steps into the back of the theater as the night rushes in.
Tristan and Isolde
at the Santa Fe Opera, New Mexico until August 23rd. santafeopera.org.