Review: A brilliant and beautiful production fit for Wagner

It is hard to identify a finer expression of the most intense human emotion than Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. Often referred to as the Romeo and Juliet of music, the opera is both the poetry and the tragedy of love, with the music a stupendous appeal to the emotional side of man’s nature.

Seldom, if ever, has a Longborough audience been treated to such an excess of passion. The display of love between Peter Wedd (Tristan) and Lee Bisset (Isolde) presents an unforgettable preoccupation with yearning. This year’s revival of the 2015 production is more assured, more powerful, and played more enthusiastically by the largest ‘band’ of the season. No doubt, the players are now feeling loved - a reflection of the worthiness of the newly installed heating in the pit; something they deserve on a cold, wet opening night.

Wagner’s Tristan exhibits a complete vindication of his theories on motifs having connection with meaning; he lets us see the birth of the melodies with our own eyes. The varying emotions of the lovers grow from the simple phrase which opens the prelude.