Wagner - Tristan und Isolde / Bohm, Nilsson, Vickers

This piece is a majestic treasury because it was done back in the early 1970's with both Jon Vickers as an exceptional tenor and Birgit Nilsson as a first class soprano. The love story is truly one of Wagner's greatest operas. It has tremendous orchestration done by Karl Bohm. I would definitely recommend it.

Jon Vickers and Birgette Nilsson were the best of their generation and here they perform in roles for which they were world famous under a conduction, Bohm, who directed this music also as no one else of his day. But....and this is why this recording of a live performance done in an outdoor stadium is for the collector ... this movie is of low quality of sound and visual. One evening these Greats performed before what appears to be an enormous crowd in a semi staged performance of the opera. I am not sure how it was picked up: high tech the record is not. I would not have missed watching and listening to this through for the talent of these giants comes through...yet it is annoying.

I am sure that this was the perfect Tristan, after all it has the Great Birgit Nilson and the Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, but the sound and picture quality is just terrible. I am very disappointed with this release because I never saw Birgit live, but know numerous people who did and continually extoll her virtues. I don't doubt that Karl Bohm is excellent and inspires the cast to give a sublime performance, but a film made in 1973 should not be of this poor quality. Where did Kultur get their master, certainly not the original film? Also, they claim it has been digitally remastered, well I dread to think what state the original source was in. To be honest I can't believe it has been cleaned up and remastered, the sound and picture are totally unacceptable. What ever was Kultur thinking of? I recommend that you do not buy this and that you lobby Kultur to ensure that they do not sell such a poor quality DVD again. In fact, I wanted to give this no stars at all, but Amazon wouldn't let me.

LOVE BIRGITT NILSSON'S VOICE

It is so sad that an amazing opera like this, with so great performers is so badly recorded- or so badly conserved. The sound quality is awfull, never the less I enjoyed it, for the love for Wagner, and to know better mythic performers like Nilsson and Vickers

I am not a hard-core audio- or video-phile, in the sense I am quite tolerant to bad quality recordings whenever the artistic outcome deserve the sacrifice. Still I find very hard to afford this title. Especially the audio track is tremendously bad. I wonder how much Kultur is responsible for this: are there any other editions of this program around? I would give one star : the second star is really for the outstanding singers performance

One star or five? If you are an operaphile who would be thrilled to have the only available filme One star or five? d record (albeit a defective video of a TV transmission that was poorly filmed to begin with) of the historic pairing of Vickers and Nilsson in Tristan, this DVD definitely rates five stars. Enough said. As other reviews point out, it’s frustrating viewing (especially Act1, where the only faces clearly visible most of the time are those of Brangaene and Isolde, the other characters being seen mostly in silhouette, if at all), but of the many DVD Tristans I’ve seen, this remains my favorite, for Isolde’s narrative and especially the love duet, Tristan’s death, and the Liebestod, where the lighting allows for halfway decent closeups.

On the plus side, this is indeed the finest Tristan and Isolde for so many reasons. On the downside, the 1973 film is very old and shows it - the sound is not as good as it should be. This film would benefit from thorough remastering as many old LP recordings are digitally remastered for CD's today. Three of the greatest interpreters of Wagner opera of the 20th century (post World War 2 mainly) contribute their talents - conductor Karl Bohm, soprano Birgit Nilsson and tenor Jon Vickers. Filmed in the Antique Theatre D'Orange, France, the performance is blessed with seasoned singers, who were so experienced in their respective roles that they add a deeper meaning to the spirit of the mystically bonded lovers. Bohm, in his old age, was also able to bring out the power and the spirituality in this work. In the long duet between Tristan and Isolde, the Liebesnacht (love's night), the passion and religiosity of their romance is profoundly expressed. Walter Berry, most known for comic baritone roles - Figaro, Leporello, Papageno in Mozart operas, is in fine shape for this opera. Jon Vickers' powerful dramatic tenor voice is still amazing in 1973. Seeing him in such a major role is terrific and a treat for opera lovers. Vickers's "film" credits also include- Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen opposite Grace Bumbry in a 1967 film conducted by Herbert Von Karajan and Otello opposite Mirella Freni. He has the acting bug. Nilsson, who also appears in a much later Met production of Elektra, is not camera shy and sings a very moving Isolde. That finale, the infamous Liebestod- said to be a musical description of her female orgasm and consummation in death - is sung with the highest and loftiest musicianship, her voice a fading pianissimi toward the end. It's a very moving piece that seems to transcend time. It's enough to make you a fan of Birgit Nilsson who recorded much more than she appeared on film. Tristan and Isolde tells the story of the Arthurian romance between King Mark's betrothed Isolde and the Knight Tristan. They drink potions they initially hoped would kill them, but ends up making them fall irreversibly in love. The outside forces in the day that "kills" the night of their love, King Mark and courtly society, finally gets to them. Tristan is stabbed. Isolde immolates herself over his body. This is Wagner's own love song to his Muse- Mathilde Wessendock. It is also his most mystical, beautiful romantic opera, though it is surpassed in spirituality by Parsifal.

Cette sublime représentation à laquelle j'ai eu la chance d'assister est très mal desservie par cette "remastérisation à l'américaine". A mon souvenir la bande réalisée par Pierre Jourdan était à peu près propre. Là, c'est inaudible, pas de stéréo, son désynchronisé, voix méconnaissables. On se demande s'il s'agit de la bande son originale. (...)

If you seek hair raising on your arms and see beyond poor video and audio this is amazing. Birgit is great and Vickers live the roll as Tristan.

Pas toujours de bonne qualité ce dvd n'est que la copie du film enregistré à l'époque. Mais les connaisseurs sauront passer au dessus de tout cela pour retouver Nilson et Vickers qui ont un jeu incroyable. A recommander aux connaisseurs ...