Rene Pape reprises Marke for Met's Tristan and Isolde

I treated myself to a weekend in NYC to hear 'live and in person' Rene Pape do his King Marke in Tristan and Isolde. My first introduction to him was watching this T & I on PBS. I remember how difficult the 'suspension of disbelief' was because Eaglen and Heppner (Isolde & Tristan in that version) were huge and not very good actors. In the second act, enter the dashing Mr. Pape as the cuckolded King Marke. Now the suspension of disbelief becomes downright impossible :~). But his singing was grand, his eyes were quite blue, and I fell head over heels in love with him and opera. So now, even though I own the DVD and have his King Marke monologue on the excellent Gods, Kings, and Demons, I wanted to experience the opera first hand.

I had a great seat, although I paid dearly for it, joining the Met Guild for early selection and still plonking down near 100 bucks for a balcony seat. But it was the front row and in the center. Daniel Barenboim conducted the Met orchestra for the performance. I'm not a huge Barenboim fan -- I think he overwhelms the singers, rather than enhancing them -- but the sound from T & I enveloped me, as if I could have floated down from the balcony on its lushness.

Caterina Dalayman sang Isolde this night, and a German - Peter Seiffert I believe - sang Tristan. They did a serviceable job, but the real stars of the night were Barenboim's orchestra and of course the incomparable Pape. Even though I've seen it and heard it a dozen times, hearing his stunned and wounded Marke, how hurt he was by Tristan's unfaithfulness, I found myself almost shedding a tear. Actually I though Dalayman and Seiffert brought a lot of tension and drama to the opera -- their dramatic abilities perhaps more notable than their singing this night, at least. Also the rather austere and geometric set seemed right when I saw it for real on the stage -- the Wagner music is so overpowering, to do more with the set would have been overkill imo, except for the silly toy soldiers in Act III.

When the curtain calls came, great cheers came forth from the audience when Pape took his bow. I didn't cheer (it's the MET for heaven's sake) but I did stand and applaud enthusiastically. I WANTED to take a picture of his curtain call, but I'd already been admonished by the usher for having a camera in my hand (although I hadn't USED it), and was too chicken to try to snap one, even for the curtain call. Oh well.

All in all, I'm glad I can say I've seen Pape's King Marke 'live and in person' now.