Love potion and Holy Grail redundant?
by Dr. Kyriakos P. Loukakos, Honorary President of the Hellenic Drama and Music Critics’ Union
Deposition of symbols for Tristan and Parsifal in Bayreuth

One of the most interesting aspects of our annual, albeit this time brief, pilgrimage to the Bayreuth Festival, even in cautious times of aleatory productions of the Richard Wagner canon of works represented in the Festspielhaus, is the multifaceted thought-provoking climate to which one is introduced having reached the central railway station of this «University and Festival City». Even before heading to the Green Hill, one will inevitably snap up at the hotel or restaurant reception free «Festival Magazines» like the 75-page «Taff Festspielmagazin», the long standing 50-page one by the prestigious Thalia Verlag, full of productions’ presentations and extensive artists’ interviews, including this year’s imposing gourmet edition of «Falstaff-Spezial» with almost the first half of its pages dedicated to the Monsalvat of romantic opera world, not to forget the «Bayreuther Festspielzeitung» reflecting lavishly the social aspect of this prestigious institution and bringing to the fore the 170 million euros plan of «overall refurbishment» (Generalsanierung) of the «Festspielhaus», that will guarantee «the perpetuation of the Bayreuth legend». So, even before (or without) acquiring the thankfully moderately sized program book of the performance, visitors inhale the powerful energy and atmosphere of Mythos Bayreuth and prepare for the ritual of attending a performance in this most special of theatres, a feeling well known to seasoned devotees, exceeding mere orientation to tradition and rituals.

Then, in Bayreuth, even the most debatable among new era productions, which we have often criticized from our humble standpoint, not only is usually redeemed by the high level of musical performance, but also forms the starting point of an infinite dialogue about notions of the Gesamtkunstwerke presented on the Green Hill. In this respect, coincidence, both intended and casual one, infer elements keen to new and often surprising dimensions to collective and personal recollection.
Common element of the new production of Tristan und Isolde we attended on August 6th and the returning latest one of Parsifal, which we first witnessed on August 7th without the visual enhancement of three-dimensional spectacles, was the option of the two directors, Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, incidentally former director of the Volksbühne Berlin and a newcomer to Bayreuth, and American Jay Scheib respectively, to devaluate the core symbolism of the love potion and the Holy Grail from cores and/or goals of a certain evolution of characters towards an all-round personal truth to mere pretexts demanded by the social frame of bygone ages. So, although Wagner remains very explicit about preexisting and conflicting feelings between the lovers, the Icelander ignores the author/composer and transfers their shared tasting of the love philter meaninglessly from the end of act 1 to the final scene of act 2, thus obliterating any dramaturgical influence of this liberating fate factor to this most emblematic of idealized love stories.
In similar vein, New Yorker Scheib, also anabaptized in the notorious Volksbühne Berlin, besides insufficiently incorporating to Parsifal contemporary thematic, mainly environmental, (the Kirill Serebrennikov revelatory production for the Vienna State Opera has provided a barely attainable reference for a contemporary deep understanding of Wagner’s confessional masterpiece of a swan song), invested Titurel’s act 1 plea for the Grail with the selfish vanity to regain his own youth, while, two acts later, the awkward object representing the Holy Grail was vehemently crashed on stage by Parsifal himself, who, equally selfishly, heads on appropriating Kundry (how much more empathetic the healing ending as envisaged by the persecuted Russian director, leading to a calm and humble companionship of Amfortas and Kundry).
In brief, what mainly bothered us, even beyond overfilled and disorderly sceneries and costumes largely unflattering to artists, that aimed to limited photo shots but barely allowed a transcendental effect akin to both works, was the abolition of symbols forming their common idealistic fundament. Then, as Greek Alexandrian poet Constantinos Kavafis formed it in his poem «Ithaka», Ulisses’s destination may hold no promises, but, being the destination, «it provided the beautiful journey»! Ο νοών νοείτω, alias sapienti sat!

High musical standards under pressure
Beyond intentional parallels though, the two performances also provided an unintentional one, regarding the interpreter of both male eponymous parts, the distinguished tenor Andreas Schager, who, despite valiant efforts in preceding acts, had to quit during Tristan’s demanding act 3 delirious monologue. It reveals much for Bayreuth standards that his vocal replacement occurred without interruption of the music and the part was completed by his by standing cover, tenor Tilmann Unger, a slightly baritonal in timbre, well supported and lyrically imbued voice, who crowned his achievement with a sonorous yet softly sung last «Isolde! ».
The tenors were surrounded by one of the best international casts a prestigious venue can host, headed by Camilla Nylund’s vocally and histrionically defiant Isolde, her top nots fearlessly accurate and clear and a warm, lyrical quality of tone, splendidly confronted to the experienced Brangäne of Chrysta Mayer. Austrian bass-baritone Günther Groissböck’s King Marke presented a more youthful and musically enraged cheated uncle compared to more elderly and grief-stricken portrayals of the role. Icelandic baritone Ólafur Sigudarson’s somewhat hefty tone conformed well to the rough-edged character of Kurwenal, his German colleague Birger Radde, a very promising artist, proved to be an exceptionally strong Melot, with no weak link in smaller parts, as the tenor ones of The Young Sailor (Matthew Newlin), the Steersman (Lawson Anderson) and The Sheppard (Daniel Jenz). Throughout the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra exalted even its own great class under the dramatic yet not lacking in depth conducting of Semyon Bychkov in a high mark of a long and distinguished career.

Bayreuth wouldn’t honour its brand if it could not claim the services of a big name to replace ailing Andreas Schager as Parsifal the following evening. According to the stage announcement, Klaus Florian Vogt had immediately accepted the challenge in spite of his absence from Germany. Yet, he was still on the plane (his own or another was not stated) at the beginning of next afternoon ‘s performance, which required once again the more than welcome services of Tillman Unger for the long (luckily for others, not the eponymous hero) act 1, a feat that was enthusiastically acclaimed by the audience, along all other artists, at the end of an unusually lengthy evening. After an extended interval, Vogt was at last in place for a performance of brilliant text articulation, believable stage presence and a luminous, lyrical declamation of the part, beautifully sustained even in the most taxing pages of act 2 and that after 17 years of devoted collaboration with the Festival, one we have followed with cumulative gratitude all these years. Fullness and roundness of tone graced Ekaterina Gubanova’s Kundry, a beautiful seductress on stage with -almost- perfectly sustained leaps of tone in the murderous second act.
Georg Zeppenfeld has attained a highpoint as an interpreter of Wagner’s works and his latest Gurnemanz achieved reference status. His balsamic utterance remains vivid to every tiny nuance of the text, conversational in purpose, ever alert to any requirement of the score. With him one doesn’t need the proverbial bed during his extended narrations in acts 1 and 3, on the contrary one begs for more! Cast from strength was the vexed and detailed Amfortas of big-voiced Australian baritone Derek Welton, carrying welcome vocal and stage authority, the sonorous bass Tobias Kehrer as Titurel and the scenically mishandled Klingsor Jordan Shanahan, understandably less venomous as some of his famous predecessors. An excellent team of Flower Maidens completed the cast. As for the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and irrespective of its master’s Eberhard Friedrich timely decoration, it remains an experience that has to be savored to be believed and it was amply rewarded by the public’s vociferous and extended applause. Last but not least the musical direction of Pablo Heras-Cassado who, in spite of relatively fast tempi, gave the work the space of emotional depth it deserves. Why not? After all, Monsalvat is in Spain…