Wagner: Tannhäuser

'Tannhauser' (2020)

Opening thoughts; 'Tannhauser' is not one of Wagner's very finest operas, do prefer 'Tristan Und Isolde', 'Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg' and 'Die Walkure' for examples, but it is still one of his better earlier operas. It is interesting thematically with the conflict of passion and love and has one of Wagner's greatest overtures and some of his most beautiful music (he may have been as terrible as one can possibly get as a person but he sure wrote some of the most beautiful music in opera), especially Wolfram's famous "O Du Mein Holder Abendstern".

Despite a good cast, with some of the cast being experienced already in their roles, this is one bizarre production that is one of the worst productions available of a very uneven DVD competition for the opera. A case of the musical values and singing being absolutely splendid but the production values and staging on the most part being garbage bin quality. Bayreuth already was no danger to bizarre and distasteful stagings of Wagner's operas, having already been responsible for a 'Lohengrin' with the characters dressed as laboratory rats and even more so a 'Meistersinger' that basically reiterated in a bashing around the head way that Wagner was an anti-semite and a favourite of the Nazis, but was really hoping that it could prove that Wagner can be done in good taste in this day and age (alas).

Good things: Beginning with the good things, the production is absolutely splendid musically. The orchestra play with a rich, warm and musically varied sound throughout, with no real issues with balance, right from the rousing overture to the poignant close, really liked that parts that are not always prominent are brought out more. The chorus are also on top form, giving their absolute all in the stirring Pilgrim's Chorus and singing with a lot of authority and nuance. Valery Gergiev's conducting is a marked improvement over his leaden conducting for the disappointing Met production of 'Der Fliegende Hollander', much more urgency and a lot more confident and prepared. There are occasions where he could have taken his time more, but surprisingly impressive overall.

Had no issues with the cast either, with Elena Zhikova standing out as an alluringly sensual and refreshingly amusing Venus. Stephen Gould is noble in the title role with no signs of strain, while Lise Davidsen is a moving Elisabeth and Markus Eiche's warmly sung and intelligently phrased rendition of "O Du Mein Holder Abendstern" is a musical highlight. Stephen Milling is a commanding Landgraf. There were some interesting moments, like with the Pilgrim's chorus, moments of amusement with Venus, the Botticelli influence and the presence of the 'Tin Drum'-inspired dwarf.

Bad things: On the other hand, there is so much that is wrong. It is very unappealing visually, with an uneasy mix of both drab and garish rather than opulent, mysterious and colourful. The costumes can be ugly and are too much of a mishmash, time and place was not easy to discern. The video direction could have done with a lot more variety and been more focused. The over-sized video projections and use of split screen feature far too much, go on for far too long and the point of them for me was questioned throughout, similar issues for flashbacks when not done well in film or television. It really took away from what was going on onstage and made me not enjoy the music as much as ought, likewise with the interpolated additional characters (i.e. The Le Gateau Chocolat-inspired character) based on characters that will go over the heads of most.

What completely wrecked the production was, other than sporadic moments of interest, was the stage direction, which was pretty much disastrous and was pretty much unrecognisable as 'Tannhauser'. This viewer has nothing against non-traditional productions, there are plenty of ones that are done very well, but she is against them when too much of the stage direction is distasteful, uninvolving and confusing and this production was practically an assault of bad taste and incoherence. Not only are the very specific instructions in the libretto completely discarded, it is almost as if they didn't exist. There are far too many touches that make no sense whatsoever and add absolutely nothing to the narrative and too many that are in such gratuitous distaste. The love scene between Elisabeth and Wolfram faring worst, and a scene that misses the point of Elisabeth's character to the point of distortion it undermines the conflict.

A conflict that aims to challenge but is so downplayed and watered down it is almost as if it was not there. Which made the drama feel really bland and dull and some of the characters, especially Elisabeth, under-directed. While liking some amusing moments with Venus, there is a lot of unintentional humour here (or attempts at it) and very little of it is funny and is pretty unpleasant to watch. Like seeing a lowbrow parody. There is next to no tension and the ordinary world and alternate world conflict idea that replaces the actual conflict of the opera was an interesting one but came over as far too gimmicky and clashed constantly with the drama and the music.

Concluding thoughts: In conclusion, can't fault it musically or in singing but everything that is wrong with the stage direction is enough to fill a novel equivalent of Stephen King's longest book.

5/10.