Some Enchanted Evening

There are many things that can go wrong in the course of an opera performance: even when ninety percent is wonderful, a lacklustre orchestra, uninspired stage direction, a baffling production design or a sub-par singer can be disproportionately detrimental to the whole. However, at a recent performance of Tristan und Isolde at the Staatsoper – in Harry Kupfer’s venerable staging – the audience were treated to that rare kind of evening where everything seemed to be in near-perfect alignment. With Waltraud Meier and Peter Seiffert in the leading roles and a profound reading of the score from Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle, it was a Tristan that ended up being considerably greater than the sum of its already impressive parts. Harry Kupfer was virtually synonymous with the Staatsoper’s Wagner productions in the nineties and, although…