Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde – Bayreuth

   in Opera Now (Jun, 2016)
Pagliacci is, of course, Leoncavallo’s greatest hit and last year’s Salzburg Easter Festival gave it a fine new production by Philipp Stölzl, along with its usual stablemate, Cavalleria rusticana. Stölzl keeps the action flowing by using a split set, enabling us to view up to six different scenes at once, referencing early Italian cinema, with Cav stylishly monochrome and Pag bursting into sulphurous Expressionist vibrancy. From such complexity he elicits a very coherent reading of both stories, as characters appear in different scenes within seconds, and often obscure elements of backstory and motivation are explained. Christian Thielemann is a surprising choice of conductor, but brings an almost Bellinian grace to the …