![]() ![]() One hears the music of Tristan und Isolde in its shifting chords and harmonics. The Venusberg scene was most extensively reworked, including the goddess Venus’ music. The Met uses a 1861 Paris version, revised from an original 1845 Dresden version. Throughout, Mr Levine brought out the intricate and dense harmonies and counterpoints of the score in a transparent and luxurious manner. The off-stage English horn in the Wartburg valley in Act I and on-stage trumpets in the entrance of the guests scene in Act II were most effective. The pace throughout was unhurried and yet never languid. The prelude that led into the Venusberg ballet score began with a luxurious tempo with shimmering strings complemented by warm woodwinds. The Met’s revival of the opera of a traditional 1977 production by Otto Schenk, for the first time since 2004, featured an exquisite rendering of the score by the Met Orchestra under James Levine. The latter’s clearest manifestations are the complex and dynamic orchestral preludes and musical passages. ![]() Wagner’s Tannhäuser is both an homage to traditional opera with duets, arias, ensembles and chorus, and a transition to the composer’s more mature “music drama” of the Ring and other later operas.
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