Around this central duo are some fine, responsive Wagnerian singers, especially the two servants Brangäne (Christine Rice), Isolde’s maid, and Kurwenal (David Stout) as Tristan’s henchman who also perishes. There are some straight miscalculations in the direction –Tristan distractedly playing the harp in the love scene – but the relationships are believable. She is overshadowed physically but not vocally by Tristan (Gwyn Hughes Jones), a bulky sailor whose thin but precise voice finds eloquence if not enough heft in Wagner’s demanding lines. In this re-telling, Isolde (Rachel Nicholls) is a phenomenally spirited youngster, who throws pillows around and overplays her vocal fury in the opening scenes, but then finds a blissful repose in the love music. The two share a drink which turns out to be a love potion, and the powerful passions this unleashes lead to the opera’s sensual second act with its famous love scene, and the final tragedies in which both Tristan and Isolde perish –or in this case maybe don’t. The essential element of the 12th-century tale is the stand-off between the Irish princess Isolde and Tristan, the man who has murdered her fiancé. Happily, this is no archaeological exhumation, but a quirky postmodern combination of the heavily realistic originals and antique furniture with projections and references to medieval art, all with a pre-Raphaelite tinge. The director and designer Charles Edwards has based his production on the original designs by Max Brückner for the premiere of Tristan in 1865. The conductor Stephen Barlow is the same as in 2011, but in place of an avant-garde director’s concept is an ingenious and thoughtful approach to the dramaturgy of a piece in which, let’s face it, not a lot happens. Now installed in the newly built theatre in the grounds of West Horsley Place, Wagner’s love-torn opera is a natural choice for this excellent space its glorious sound resonates through the building. At its former home in Hampshire, Grange Park Opera mounted a Tristan und Isolde in contemporary garb. Wagner continues to exert its attraction, fatal or otherwise, for our opera festivals.
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