Tannhauser is not my favourite Wagner opera, but is always the case with Wagner the music is brilliant including perhaps Wagner's finest overture, Pilgrims Chorus and Ode to the Evening Star and the story never fails to move me in some way. But I was disappointed in this production, it is a little better than the 1994 Kollo/Secunde/Weikl/Meier/Mehta performance, but for the best Tannhauser on DVD, look no further than the 1978 Bayreuth production, closely followed by the 1982 Met(though I wasn't really that enamoured with Richard Cassily).
Despite my disappointment with the production that is not to say that there aren't good things. The orchestral playing is of a rich and powerful quality, the brass are not fatigued in any way, the woodwind play with fine phrasing and the strings are both dense and sumptuous. The overture was thrilling, but I would have enjoyed it much more if it weren't for the nonsense going on stage. The chorus, a big part of the opera, are stirring vocally in especially the Pilgrims Chorus, while Phillippe Jordan conducts with well-judged tempos, a strong sense of drama and attention to musicality and phrasing.
Of the performances the best performance, or shall I say the most consistent, was Camilla Nylund as Elisabeth. Her voice is splendid throughout the range, with her high notes never too squally under pressure. It is what she does with the role that made her performance so special. Elisabeth is not the opera's most interesting character, but one I do find touching when done right. That was the case with Nylund, who is suitably sympathetic and moving especially in Act 2, and the fact that she is a beautiful woman does help things.
Waltraud Meier was also fine as Venus, though she was better in the role in 1994(the one thing I prefer in that production to this one). I wasn't sure about why Meier was made to look like the Bride of Frankenstein or why Lehnhoff gave her little to do relying too much on her dramatic ability, but whatever reservations I had about her costuming and hairpiece Meier, the superb singing-actress she is(one of the best of the past 30 years or so actually), is appropriately dignified and while her singing is not what I call lovely it is thrilling. Stephen Milling is a commanding Landgraf, and while better as Telramund and Klingsor Tom Fox is an effective Biterolf.
I had mixed feelings however on Robert Gambill's Tannhauser. I admire his commitment and dramatic intensity here, but never really warmed to his voice. His baritone-like middle is quite warm, but I can't say the same for his top, which I found strained often, not helped also by some very strident phrasing. I have also heard Roman Trekel in much better voice before, as Wolfram he is not too bad as an actor but vocally he sounds unsteady. For instance in Ode to the Evening Star, there are a lot of long sustained phrases, that Trekel for my liking sings with a lot of wobble and not enough legato.
Visually, the costumes and sets are not as banal as the 1994 performance, but I didn't exactly find them appealing either. The sets is basically just the giant staircase for the whole production and not much else. I understood why it was there, perhaps as a pathway to choice and fate, but everything else was so barren that you don't feel or see any of Venus' decadence, the sterility of the castle or the redemption theme of the last act. The costumes are very vague in what time period they come from, ranging from medieval garb to the ridiculous golden sci-fi-like outfits in Act 2. And don't remind me of the completely sexless pink bodysuits, the dancers looked like mannequins.
As for the staging, I didn't care for that either. I can find Nikolaus Lehnhoff an interesting and imaginative director, though I can definitely see why his work is not for all tastes, but here there is not much I found very engaging. 2006's Lohengrin and 2004's Parsifal, also directed by Lehnhoff and also from Baden-Baden, showed more dimension to the characters and detail to characterisation, something I didn't find much of here. All the characters here are rather one-dimensional, there is even one scene where Lehnhoff makes Tannhauser behave like a bratty jock when he pushes Fox's Biterolf off the stage, and a lot of the acting reads of static posing. Some touches could be seen as anachronistic, such as Landgraf using a microphone in Act 2.
In regard to the technical values, the camera work is quite good as is the clear picture quality. But the sound is not so good, often with a tinny quality with some of the miking rather harsh, further accentuating any vocal imperfections like Gambill's strained high register. Overall, as far as Wagner opera productions go, it is more watchable than the 1998 Tristan, 2008 Meistersinger, 2010 Hollander, 2004 Walkure, 2003 Siegfried and 1994 Tannhauser, but for great productions of his work I'll go with the 1991 Hollander, 1980 Walkure, 1993 Siegfried, 1971 Meistersinger, 1990 Rheingold or 1992 Parsifal. This 2008 Baden-Baden Tannhauser is not terrible, but for me it was an uneven disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
Despite my disappointment with the production that is not to say that there aren't good things. The orchestral playing is of a rich and powerful quality, the brass are not fatigued in any way, the woodwind play with fine phrasing and the strings are both dense and sumptuous. The overture was thrilling, but I would have enjoyed it much more if it weren't for the nonsense going on stage. The chorus, a big part of the opera, are stirring vocally in especially the Pilgrims Chorus, while Phillippe Jordan conducts with well-judged tempos, a strong sense of drama and attention to musicality and phrasing.
Of the performances the best performance, or shall I say the most consistent, was Camilla Nylund as Elisabeth. Her voice is splendid throughout the range, with her high notes never too squally under pressure. It is what she does with the role that made her performance so special. Elisabeth is not the opera's most interesting character, but one I do find touching when done right. That was the case with Nylund, who is suitably sympathetic and moving especially in Act 2, and the fact that she is a beautiful woman does help things.
Waltraud Meier was also fine as Venus, though she was better in the role in 1994(the one thing I prefer in that production to this one). I wasn't sure about why Meier was made to look like the Bride of Frankenstein or why Lehnhoff gave her little to do relying too much on her dramatic ability, but whatever reservations I had about her costuming and hairpiece Meier, the superb singing-actress she is(one of the best of the past 30 years or so actually), is appropriately dignified and while her singing is not what I call lovely it is thrilling. Stephen Milling is a commanding Landgraf, and while better as Telramund and Klingsor Tom Fox is an effective Biterolf.
I had mixed feelings however on Robert Gambill's Tannhauser. I admire his commitment and dramatic intensity here, but never really warmed to his voice. His baritone-like middle is quite warm, but I can't say the same for his top, which I found strained often, not helped also by some very strident phrasing. I have also heard Roman Trekel in much better voice before, as Wolfram he is not too bad as an actor but vocally he sounds unsteady. For instance in Ode to the Evening Star, there are a lot of long sustained phrases, that Trekel for my liking sings with a lot of wobble and not enough legato.
Visually, the costumes and sets are not as banal as the 1994 performance, but I didn't exactly find them appealing either. The sets is basically just the giant staircase for the whole production and not much else. I understood why it was there, perhaps as a pathway to choice and fate, but everything else was so barren that you don't feel or see any of Venus' decadence, the sterility of the castle or the redemption theme of the last act. The costumes are very vague in what time period they come from, ranging from medieval garb to the ridiculous golden sci-fi-like outfits in Act 2. And don't remind me of the completely sexless pink bodysuits, the dancers looked like mannequins.
As for the staging, I didn't care for that either. I can find Nikolaus Lehnhoff an interesting and imaginative director, though I can definitely see why his work is not for all tastes, but here there is not much I found very engaging. 2006's Lohengrin and 2004's Parsifal, also directed by Lehnhoff and also from Baden-Baden, showed more dimension to the characters and detail to characterisation, something I didn't find much of here. All the characters here are rather one-dimensional, there is even one scene where Lehnhoff makes Tannhauser behave like a bratty jock when he pushes Fox's Biterolf off the stage, and a lot of the acting reads of static posing. Some touches could be seen as anachronistic, such as Landgraf using a microphone in Act 2.
In regard to the technical values, the camera work is quite good as is the clear picture quality. But the sound is not so good, often with a tinny quality with some of the miking rather harsh, further accentuating any vocal imperfections like Gambill's strained high register. Overall, as far as Wagner opera productions go, it is more watchable than the 1998 Tristan, 2008 Meistersinger, 2010 Hollander, 2004 Walkure, 2003 Siegfried and 1994 Tannhauser, but for great productions of his work I'll go with the 1991 Hollander, 1980 Walkure, 1993 Siegfried, 1971 Meistersinger, 1990 Rheingold or 1992 Parsifal. This 2008 Baden-Baden Tannhauser is not terrible, but for me it was an uneven disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox
