Wagner - Tristan and Isolde (Skelton, Stemme, LSO, Rattle) (320kbps .mp3)

Simon Rattle conducts Wagner's great love story starring Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme, from the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival, presented by Martin Handley. The Irish princess Isolde nursed the Cornish knight Tristan back to health after he killed her betrothed Morold. Now she's betrothed to the Cornish King Mark and is being escorted to Cornwall by none other than Tristan. Their relationship is... frosty? Or are there stronger passions bubbling underneath?

Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Tristan ... Stuart Skelton (tenor)
Isolde ... Nina Stemme (soprano)
King Mark ... Franz-Josef Selig (bass)
Kurwenal, Tristan's servant ... Josef Wagner (baritone)
Brangäne, Isolde's maid ... Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano)
Melot ... Dominic Sedgwick (baritone)
Young Sailor/Shepherd ... Linard Vrielink (baritone)
Steersman ... Ivan Thirion (baritone)
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Simon Rattle

Broadcast: 1 January 2022, BBC Radio 3
Image: © Jean-Louis Fernandez

SYNOPSIS
Act I
Tristan, Knight of Cornwall, is escorting Isolde, Princess of Ireland, to Cornwall where she is being forced to marry King Marke. When Brangäne, her servant, spots the Cornish coast, Isolde is overcome by rage. She casts a spell upon the ship, summoning the sea and death to rise up and to devour all on board. Isolde demands Brangäne bring Tristan before her – she will not step ashore unless he drinks a cup of atonement. Tristan evades Isolde. Brangäne pushes Tristan to obey until Kurwenal, Tristan’s servant, refuses on his master’s behalf and brags about Tristan’s slaying of Morold, Isolde’s intended fiancé. Isolde tells Brangäne the truth: Tristan, wounded after killing Morold, landed on her shore under the false name of Tantris. As Isolde nursed his wound with her renowned powers of healing, she quickly recognised him – the murderer of her beloved fiancé Morold. As she raised his sword to murder him, their eyes met, and love was born. She asks Brangäne to help her murder Tristan for revenge. Brangäne reminds Isolde that they have her mother’s magic potions with them. She could use the love draught to bind her and King Marke. But Isolde would rather a death potion for herself and Tristan. Isolde refuses to come ashore unless Tristan appears before her to drink the cup of atonement. Kurwenal agrees to summon Tristan and Brangäne agrees to prepare the death drink. Tristan and Isolde finally meet face to face. Isolde demands vengeance for Morold’s death. Tristan offers Isolde his sword to slay him, but she beckons Brangäne to bring the drink of atonement. Tristan drinks it. Isolde drinks the potion as well. But Brangäne has exchanged the death draught for a love potion. As the ship reaches Cornwall, Tristan and Isolde, believing they are about to die, declare their love for one another and embrace, just as Melot and King Marke arrive.
Act II
King Marke and his companions are away on a surprise night-time hunt. Isolde thinks only of Tristan. Brangäne fears Melot has organised the hunt to trap the lovers. Isolde dismisses Brangäne’s warning and orders her to extinguish the light – the signal that it is safe for Tristan to come to her. Brangäne tries to stop her, but Isolde puts out the light herself. Tristan arrives; he and Isolde greet each other ecstatically. Their bliss cannot be sustained by day where the presence of the court and King prohibit their love. Even night now limits their union as the rising of the sun means they must once again part. They realise their love can only be fully united in the eternal darkness of death. The hunting party has returned and Melot’s trap has been sprung. King Marke confronts Tristan and asks him to account for his betrayal. Tristan is unable to explain his actions and asks Isolde to follow him into death. He accuses Melot of treachery and challenges him to fight. Tristan offers no defence and deliberately impales himself on Melot’s sword.
Act III
Tristan lies unconscious. When a shepherd appears, Kurwenal asks him to play a more cheerful melody should Isolde’s ship appear on the horizon. Gradually, Tristan regains consciousness. Delirious with pain, he thinks only of his reunion with Isolde and in a hallucination, Tristan sees her vessel coming towards him. Hearing the shepherd’s pipe, he laments the potion which he and Isolde brewed and the madness he now lives – waiting for Isolde to arrive and escort him to death. A change in the shepherd’s melody confirms that Isolde’s ship has been sighted. Tristan sees Isolde and dies in her arms. The shepherd announces the arrival of a second ship: it contains King Marke, Melot, Brangaene and soldiers. Thinking they have come in pursuit of Isolde, Kurwenal charges at Melot and kills him. As King Marke looks on in horror, Kurwenal rushes into death. Having learned from Brangäne about the love potion, King Marke has come to unite Isolde and Tristan and yield his own claim to her. All is dead. Isolde and Tristan transfigure through death.