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KURT MASUR'S MAGNIFICENT TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
By Edith Eisler

Several great orchestras have performed operas in concert in New York recently, which might indicate that the public is beginning to regard opera as a musical rather than a theatrical experience. At Carnegie Hall, Wolfgang Sawallisch and his Philadelphians presented Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, Daniel Barenboim and his Chicagoans the second act of Wagner's Die Walküre and excerpts from Götterdämmerung as well as the entire Tristan und Isolde; all were well attended and warmly received. Now New York's own Philharmonic has done Act 2 of Tristan, plus the Preludes to Acts 1 and 3 and "Isoldes Liebestod," and is planning to present Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail later this season.

It might be argued that an opera acquires a new dimension when played by a great symphony orchestra on stage rather than supported by a pit band. But since New York's Metropolitan Opera boasts an orchestra second to none on or off stage, the primary attraction of a concert performance in this case is being able to see as well as to hear the musicians; this makes it easier to pick out the instrumental strands and identify the sonorities. Moreover, one can follow the libretto, which is sometimes (depending on the production) more enlightening than watching the action.

Performing a single act of an opera may seem strange, but in fact Act 2 of Tristan contains some of its greatest, most sensuous and exalted music; Isolde's death-scene continues the theme of the love duet, and the two Preludes set the stage and the atmosphere.

The Philharmonic's Tristan was simply terrific: grand, sweeping, yet just about perfect in every detail. All the singers in the multinational cast were making their Philharmonic debuts except Deborah Voigt, who is most familiar to New York's audiences for her Richard Strauss interpretations. Though she has not yet sung Isolde on stage, she was fabulous; totally identified with the part, she captured the ecstasy as well as the hallucinatory quality of the final scene and made dying from love seem almost possible. Vocally, she was equally stunning, soaring effortlessly above the orchestra, every note perfectly centered and produced, spinning long, arching phrases without strain. Violeta Urmana from Lithuania projected Brangäne's passionate, guilty desperation with a powerful, dark voice and great intensity. Stig Andersen from Denmark has neither the stature nor the heroic ring usually associated with a Heldentenor, but he was wonderful: his dark, warm, commanding voice cut through the orchestra, carrying easily throughout the hall. He made Tristan's ecstatic love and helpless contrition utterly believable. The veteran Theo Adam from Germany was a very convincing King: he looked the part and his voice, dark and a bit worn, was just right for Marke's uncomprehending, sorrowful reproaches. Thomas Studebaker from Illinois did well in the small, violent part of Melot.

But most impressive of all, perhaps, was the orchestra. Though Tristan is clearly not in the Philharmonic's repertoire, the musicians played it with total security and commitment; the sound was brilliant, rich and thoroughly adaptable; the solos were uniformly wonderful. Conductors often forget that with a big orchestra on stage, not in the pit, the singers fight a losing battle to be heard. Masur succeeded in avoiding this danger; except for a few early moments, when Andersen's voice was not quite warmed up, the orchestra was never too loud, yet there was no feeling of holding back.

This performance marked Kurt Masur's return to the podium after several weeks' absence to recover from transplant surgery, and he was given a hero's welcome. It was a triumph for the orchestra, the soloists, and Masur himself, who has been the orchestra's music director since 1991 and is now in the final year of his tenure. New York's musical community will be sad to see him go; the warm appreciation and high esteem he has inspired as man and musician on both sides of the footlights is summed up by the season's motto "Thank you, Kurt Masur!"