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London,
Fiona Maddocks's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Nikolaus Lehnhoff.
Cast: Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Jiri Belohlavek (cond), Roland Aeschilmann (des), London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus, Robert Gambill (Tristan), Nina Stemme (Isolde), Katarina Karneus (Brangane), Bo Skovhus (Kurwenal), Rene Pape (King Marke), Georg Zeppenfeld (King Marke, Aug 22), Stephen Gadd (Melot), Timothy Robinson (A Shepherd/A Young Sailor), Richard Mosley-Evans (Steersman)
Description: Jiri Belohlavek takes the baton for a revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's groundbreaking 2003 production, Glyndebourne's first ever Wagner staging. With Robert Gambill as Tristan, Nina Stemme as Isolde and Katarina Karneus as Brangane. Sung in German with English surtitles.
Trains: BR: Lewes 
Phone: 01273813813
Website: www.glyndebourne.com
Even Glyndebourne audiences can be raucous. Thunderous applause and footstamping greeted the end of Tristan und Isolde, in the keenly awaited revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff 's 2003 production.
Set in a glowing grey-blue vortex, symbolising birth, sex, death, functioning as ship, castle, cliff, Roland Aeschlimann's beautifully lit, abstract designs combine with Andrea Schmidt- Futterer's medieval costumes in a perfect unity of ancient and modern.
There are a few drawbacks. Keeping the chorus off-stage is not ideal. Amid this Schopenhauer-inspired excess of love and desire, the rude advent of a few lusty sailors can be blessed relief. On the first night, too, Robert Gambill as Tristan, never quite found form, sounding underpowered and struggling with intonation. Yet the overriding sense was of a spellbinding evening in the theatre. Katarina Karnéus, a we lcome new Brang‰ne, was secure, rich-toned and moving. Bo Skovhus (Kurwenal), Stephen Gadd (Melot), Timothy Robinson (Shepherd/Sailor) excelled. René Pape's King Marke, with a bass voice pure and flexible as the lightest lyric tenor, was impeccable. Jiri Belohlavek conducted an intelligent, expansive performance with lustrous playing from the London Philharmonic.
The thrilling triumph was Swedish soprano Nina Stemme, a seasoned yet youthful Isolde, who combined opulent vocal timbre with emotional intensity and physical allure. How often is that found in one Wagnerian soprano? Hammer on the door for returns. Or catch it for just £7.50 at an Odeon cinema near you on 26 October.
• www.glyndebourne.com
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I was fortunate to see the dress rehearsal. The house manager asked everyone in the packed auditorium to keep as quiet as possible, because the audio track was being made during the performance. Consequently we were treated to a superlative sound from singers and the pit. And very restrained coughing! I had seen this production on its previous outing a few years ago, with essentially the same cast, and I had then thought it the most moving and extraordinary production. This year's revival was seemingly even greater, and ranks as one of the greatest experiences I've known. In any medium...
- Peter Kettle, Hailsham East Sussex
