Tristan and Isolde review

Wagner conceived this opera, premiered in Munich in 1865, as a "full-blooded musical conception" and a "monument to love". It is harmonically advanced (spawning the famously ambiguous ‘Tristan chord’) and erotically charged, and the immediacy of the passions it depicts reflects the fact that the love triangle between the Cornish knight Tristan, Irish princess Isolde and Tristan’s uncle, King Marke of Cornwall (to whom Isolde is reluctantly betrothed) was echoed by the real-life scenario in which Wagner was positioned between his muse-and-lover Mathilde Wesendonck and her husband Otto.

At the core of the opera is the idea of a love so complete that it can properly be consummated only in death. Charles Edwards’ new production for Grange Park Opera seems to play on the central lovers’ loosened grip on reality by simultaneously displaying the backdrops for all three acts, the current one always placed at the back, so that the elements of time and place are merged. This, and further directorial ideas, represent some thoughtful reframing, but what is revelatory is the quality of the music.

The Gascoigne Orchestra is directed with great warmth by Stephen Barlow, who swaps sheer homogenous heft (no doubt preferred by some Wagner lovers) for the ear-tickling, colourful detail of inner lines. At the same time, the dramatic hunting horns opening Act II leap in with great presence, as does the tight, precise male chorus. The night music that follows is also beguiling.

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