Richard Wagner, Tannhauser
Hermann, Langrave of Thuringia, Kwangchul Youn
Tannhauser, Torsten
Kerl
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Markus
Eiche
Walther von der Vogelweider, Lothar Odinius
Biterolf, Thomas
Jesatko
Heinrich der Schreiber, Stefan
Heibach
Elisabeth, Camilla
Nylund
Venus, Michelle
Breedt
A young shepherd, Katja
Stuber
Bayreuth Festival
Orchestra and Chorus
Conducted by Axel
Kober
Chorus Master, Eberhard
Friedrich
Directed by Sebastian
Baumgarten
Stage designs by Joep
van Leishout
Opus Arte Blu-Ray OA BD7171 D
The Baumgarten/van Lieshout production of Tannhauser opened
at Bayreuth in July 2011, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock. The production was
not well received – according to Mark Ronan’s review
in the Telegraph, the production team received vocal boos with not a single
clap of applause. This Blu-Ray was recorded three years later, on 12 August
2014 with Axel Kober at the podium and a substantially different cast (only
Camilla Nylund remains of the original principals). Judging by the applause at
the end, the Bayreuth audience seems to have mellowed with time. My own
sympathies lie somewhere between the hostile 2011 audience and the more
generous 2014 audience.
There are lots of good ideas in this production. Basing the
staging on the Dutch performance sculptor Joep van Leishout’s installation
‘Technocrat’ is one of them. I may be an outlier here, but I found the inside
of a factory both visually appealing and an interesting metaphor for the world
that Tannhauser opposes to the Venusberg – and also for Tannhauser’s own
experimentation. The Venusberg itself is
a cylindrical cage that arises out of the bowels of the stage at appropriate
moments, bathed in red light. I also liked the way that Venus makes silent
appearances outside the Venusberg, both in person (in the Act II contest, for
example, where she has a seat in the audience) and metaphorically (in
Elizabeth’s bright red dress and her occasional departures from maidenly
decorum). There is definitely the making of a good production here.
There are also some truly awful ideas. Having Venus be
heavily pregnant is one of them. Her fumbled couplings with Torsten Kerl, who
is roly poly at best, looked ridiculous, and a powerful final scene was
weakened by the eventual appearance of Venus’s baby. Nor is there any need for
slapstick between Tannhauser and a conspicuously inebriated shepherd at the
beginning of the Wartberg scene in Act I. In fairness, though, most
contemporary Wagner productions have at least one absurdity in them.
The real problem with this production is that there is far
too much going on. Van Leishout’s installation has multiple levels. This allows
the characters to move around, breaking the visual monotony of some of the set
pieces. But why have extras constantly moving around doing mysterious things
with machinery? Further distraction comes from the projected son-et-lumière
show at the rear of the stage. Not a bad idea, and the images were interesting.
But in the context of everything else going on all it did was add to the
confusion. Joep van Leishout and Sebastian Baumgarten really need to learn that
less is often more. It’s not a coincidence, I think, that the most visually
satisfying part of the performance was Act III, where the "busy-ness"
levels seemed significantly lower. With less conceptual clutter the dramatic
devices came across more effectively – e.g. Wolfram dancing with Venus and the
obsessive cleaning of the “cleansed” pilgrims.
The vocal highlights of the performance are Markus Eiche’s
Wolfram von Eschenbach and Camilla Nylund’s Elisabeth. Eiche combines delicacy
and command. Wolfram comes across as much more complex and less “fussy” than he
is often portrayed. Eiche is particularly fine in the opening of Act III.
Elizabeth, who is so often portrayed as a rather smug puritan, is also revealed
to be a much more multi-dimensional character who Like Tannhauser battles with
the temptations of the Venusberg. Michelle Breedt’s Venus sings with verve and
passion in the Venusberg, but doesn’t project as well as she might. Kwangchul
Youn is a fine Landgrave, although the role does not demand much by way of
acting.
The real disappointment was Torsten Kerl’s Tannhauser. As so
often the tenor lead is the weak link in the chain. Kerl has certainly got the
volume of a heldentenor. This serves him well in his entrance into the Wartburg
in Act I, and again in the climactic moments in Act II when he has to project
over the choir and full orchestra. But he falls sadly short wherever vocal
characterization is called for. There some moments in Act III (particularly
recounting his pilgrimage to Rome) when Kerl shows what he might be capable of,
but he soon lapses back into belting it out at the top of his voice. His
enthusiastic reception by the Bayreuth audience surprised me.
The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra is in fine voice in this
performance. Axel Kober (music director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein) made his
Bayreuth debut in 2013. He is clearly at home with the score and paces the work
extremely well, maintaining dramatic focus through the music even it appears to
be total chaos on stage. The partnership between orchestra and choir is
excellent, with both outbound and inbound pilgrims’ choruses working extremely
effectively – at least from a musical point of view, it being a tribute to
Chorus Master Eberhard Freidrich that the choir sings so well even when asked
to do rather bizarre things on stage.
The sound quality is very good. I listened in LPCM stereo –
a DTS multichannel option is also available. There is fine camera work
(including some unusual overhead shots) and the Blu-Ray is well-provided with
extras, including biographies of the principals. My only complaint is that Opus
Arte (unforgiveably) play the credits over the opening of the overture – this
ghastly habit has to stop! It would be
hard to recommend this as a go-to Tannhauser, but the concept of the production
is interesting and controversial enough that Wagnerians not able to get to
Bayreuth will want to take a look themselves.
