Prom 19 - 27.07.13: Wagner – Tristan and Isolde

[Resurrection Man]

No comments yet? ......

Yes! Yes! Yes! Magnificent. Superb all round.

[Anna]

It's the first Wagner opera I've listened to from start to (if I last the course) finish. It's only that nothing's on telly ...... No, someone ages ago gave me Wagner's overtures and said - these are all you need, don't bother with anything else ........ so I haven't
Edit: Just seen this:

I have observed before that Wagner is much the same as Tolkien, but with sex. Both go on and on and on.

Blimey!! Sort of a neverending journey?

[Black Swan]

I have enjoyed tonight's performance. Tristan and Isolde and Gotterdammerung are my 2 favorite Wagner Opera's so a good night for me tonight and tomorrow night. A great night for those of us who love Wagner's music.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's a pity that the Prom concert programmers couldn't space the Wagner operas out more. Ok, with The Ring, perhaps not. Would it be too much of a good thing?

I agree. It was a strange decision to have Tristan in the middle of the Ring cycle.

[amac4165]

I agree. It was a strange decision to have Tristan in the middle of the Ring cycle.

The only thing I think of is that Tristan was written between Acts II & III of Siegfried

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's as well they didn't do Tristan in the midldle of Friday's perdormance.

[Bryn]

It's as well they didn't do Tristan in the midldle of Friday's perdormance.

That reminds me, time for bed.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That's the drawback of trying to post using a BlackBerry.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's the drawback of trying to post using a BlackBerry.

Indeed: best to stick to GoldenApples.

[Zucchini]

Indeed: best to stick to GoldenApples.

I thought Beckham had them

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I thought Beckham had them

- I wonder if they're ...

(EDIT: Second thoughts on a Sunday morning. )

[Bert Coules]

From a purely musicological point of view it might have been interesting if the Siegfried prom had ended after act two, with the Wesendonk lieder on the next night, followed by Tristan and then Meistersinger before returning to the Ring.

And if this wouldn't have been appropriate for the Proms, it could have been done elsewhere on Radio 3. In fact, why didn't they go for a proper chronological exploration of Wagner's output, from first to last? That would have been a fascinating bicentenary celebration.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

In fact, why didn't they go for a proper chronological exploration of Wagner's output, from first to last? That would have been a fascinating bicentenary celebration.

A word of advice, Bert:

DUCK!!!

[Bert Coules]

I'll see your duck and raise you a swan. But I know what you mean...

[RobertLeDiable]

I suspect that probably nobody actually wanted to have Tristan in the middle of the Ring, but that Bychkov could only do it this week, and maybe also that because of the Berliners occupying a lot of the week with the Ring, this was the one period in the Proms when the BBC SO had the time for all the necessary rehearsals for Tristan.

It was a fine performance - Urmana and Dean Smith excellent. Well conducted (fast, which I like) and pretty well played. Though listening now to Gotterdammerung, I'm afraid the BBC SO is not a patch on the Staatskapelle in this repertoire.