Tristan und Isolde,  Mahler's Eighth Symphony  and that polar bear! Berlin at Easter 2007 (JPr)

 

It seems that Berlin has gone Knuts!

Ok so now I Google this I know it is not original but I might as well used it since how else could I start this essay on music in the German capital over Easter.

I am supposed to be writing about Wagner and Mahler but it is a polar bear than needs considering because of its wider importance to the finances of not just a zoo but the economy of this cash-starved city where an awesome amount of regeneration continues.

Potsdamer Platz is at the heart of the city where West used to be divided from East and has many other historical associations. I have watched it develop, over a number of visits, from the biggest building site in the world into a commercial and tourist centre with skyscrapers of the size and complexity to bring Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ into existence.

Back to Knut. Is there anyone who does not know the story? Well, some 125,000 people came to Berlin Zoo over the Easter weekend while I was there. Knut is a 5-month old ‘global phenomenon’ of a cute fluffy furry bundle of playful (until he grows) fun. He was rejected by his mother, his twin died, and he is now being raised by his keeper.

There are in the region of about 15.000 visitors to his enclosure on the most popular days for his two one-hour appearances. When I was there there were barriers, security guards and a one-way system past the enclosure.

Did I queue … no I did not, there are always alternatives! Did I join the others in going ‘Ahhhhh!’ … of course I did!

As worldwide interest grows the Zoo is cashing in and has trademarked Knut’s name for t-shirts, postcards, posters, toy bears and even the sausage stalls have his photo on them. A Berlin bank is also planning to have Knut on its bankcards.

The more tourists in Berlin, the more money they spend, the more money there is for everything including the continuing regeneration and, of course, the Arts.

Maintaining three opera houses, the Philharmonie concert hall and the orchestras, amongst all the other art-forms (straight theatre, museums and art galleries) is hugely important for Berlin because it prides itself on being, what I have seen described as, ‘a cultural showpiece city’ for Europe. It is however one that is struggling with an estimated debt of some 60 billion euro. Germany’s highest court recently rejected the city’s plea for the government to bail it out and seemingly indirectly accused it of being a ‘spendthrift city’ that needs to drastically cut its spending and therefore something from the cultural budget may have to be sacrificed.

I doubt whether Knut is worth 60 billion euro but every little helps!

I visited two of Berlin’s musical institutions over this last Easter weekend. The day I arrived I saw Tristan und Isolde at the Deutsche Oper. Götz Friedrich was general manager and principal director of the Deutsche Oper from 1981 until his death in late 2000. He was for a long time the enfant terrible of those who like their opera productions blandly coherent because of his innovative and intellectual stagings. This Tristan was new in 1980 and returned for the 50th time on 7 April. I had previously seen this ‘monumental’ production once before in May 2000. The monumentality exists in the scale of the sets by the legendary Günther Schneider-Siemssen recreating the deck of a ship with stage-deep ropes for Act I, castle walls for Act II and castle promontory for Act III. The costumes I understand are Inge Justin’s originals from 1980 and are a fairly traditional mix of heavy gowns for the women and courtly attire for the men. There is some white for Isolde and Tristan but mostly it is all brown, grey and black. This goes for the lighting as well which is fairly gloomy apart from some moonlight effects at crucial times.

How much of the original concept exist in Gerlinda Pelkowski’s revival is difficult to know. When I first saw it Friedrich was still alive and now all there are left are notes presumably and a filmed version. There is nothing controversial here, perhaps there never was? It is as ‘classic’ a version of Tristan und Isolde as anyone is likely to now find. I just remember René Kollo’s Tristan having more energy than Christian Franz here. That may be because it was Kollo’s last performance of this role and they made a presentation to him afterwards. As in that 2000 performance Isolde was Gabriele Schnaut, she has become a little more statuesque over the years and now seemed restricted to a few semaphore arm movements. It was rumoured that these will be her last Isoldes.

Overall the cast was of a quality rarely encountered these days. Brangäne was in the safe hands of Petra Lang, impetuous, tactile and youthful, her mezzo voice has an incredible range and her Act II warning ‘Einsam wachen’ had great impact and portent. Two other distinguished German singers made major contributions - Matthias Goerne brought some of the Lieder singer’s subtlety to the faithful retainer Kurwenal, and the current Bayreuth Hagen, the bass Hans-Peter König, is a tall man with an imposing voice that held the audience’s attention through his monologues.

Gabriele Schnaut, who had been careful not to force her voice, became more involved in Act III and her ‘Liebestod’ was imperious and affecting. As we become more distant from the exploits of the great British Heldentenor Alberto Remedios, it becomes less relevant to make the following remark that Christian Franz reminds me of Alberto. There is a sense of struggle, there is a sense of naïve awkwardness on stage but there is an overwhelming geniality and general pleasantness of tone even during his bandage waving Act III travails. He retained just enough puff for a moving and surprisingly delicate last-gasp ‘Isolde!’

The orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin were on top form and sounded as though they played through Tristan und Isolde every night. They were guided by the safe hands of the veteran Austrian conductor, Peter Schneider, who visibly cast a giant shadow on the walls of the 1960’s theatre as he led the orchestra though a magisterial, if rather slow, account of the score, never less that eloquent it sounded like a studio CD recording until it achieved a wonderful radiance during the closing pages from Isolde’s appearance in Act III onwards when Schnaut cast the singer’s artifice aside and let the role take her over.

If the Deutsche Oper’s facilities remind one of the pre-renovation Royal Festival Hall then the Philharmonie, home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is indeed a ‘singular building’ as described by the recently derided Wikipedia. Built by the architect Hans Scharoun in the early 1960s it is a bit like a gigantic circus tent and the main concert hall is pentagonal. The sound is well-nigh perfect throughout the 2,440 capacity hall, the stage can be fully viewed from virtually any seat in the hall, particularly because it is in the centre and there are a number of seats behind it, as well as those in front.

Mahler said of his Eighth Symphony ‘…the experience of the music should be overwhelming, it should leave you feeling, however briefly, that this is unquestionably the greatest piece of music ever written.’ It possibly something that can only be experienced to the full when heard live. No recordings can match the overwhelming impact of the work if the atmosphere and impact are distilled through digital recording techniques.

The fact that there was this great Mahler cycle going on in Berlin over 10 nights from 1 to 12 April seems to have been kept the secret of most outside Germany, outside Berlin even. Under the direction of Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez most of Mahler’s completed works were performed. Easter Monday (9 April) it was Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ conducted by Boulez with a galaxy of star soloists.

Is this really a symphony? Well it certainly is not a classical one and is in fact Mahler reaching out towards an operatic style he did not have the time to pursue. Isn’t that gentle atmospheric opening with pizzicato cellos and basses nothing other than a prelude or intermezzo (if you prefer) between two acts?

‘Veni, creator spiritus’ is full of baroque devices so think oratorio. The second movement is a setting of part of Goethe’s Faust: Part II and think grand romantic opera, well, until towards the very end. ‘Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis’ begins the end of the symphony. At first whispered by the Chorus Mysticus, and gradually everything winds up to the works’s grand apotheosis, highlighting the redemptive powers of the Eternal Feminine (‘Das Ewig-Weibliche’) that was one of Wagner’s favourite themes.

In the first movement Boulez is alive to all the intricate details and he seems to adhere to Mahler’s instruction of ‘somewhat pressing to the end’. The second movement too works well, aided by the faultless ensemble and solid strings, woodwind and brass playing of the Staatskapelle Berlin and potent, well-schooled singing from amongst others the Staatsoper Berlin chorus. This work really benefits from involving such an opera chorus. I will not go through the individual contributions of the singers; all made important contributions although they were occasionally overwhelmed by the immensity of the sound around them. For those keen on these things the soloists involved were:

First soprano (Magna Peccatrix) Twyla Robinson

Second soprano (Una poenitentium) Soile Isokoski

Third soprano (Mater gloriosa) Adriane Queiroz

First alto (Mulier Samaritana) Michelle DeYoung

Second alto (Maria Aegyptiaca) Simone Schröder

Tenor (Doctor Marianus) Johan Botha

Baritone (Pater ecstaticus) Hanna Müller-Brachman

Bass (Pater profundis) Robert Holl

It was all really exciting, whether it was sufficiently spiritual or life-enhancing was something I did not bother about until long after I left the concert hall. Do we expect any transfiguration from a Boulez performance, possibly not?

And the solution to the problems of the finances of the classical music institutions in Berlin? Well why not put the prices up? The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, trumpets ‘the top price for Opera rises in line with inflation from £185 to £190’, the best stalls seats at the Deutsche Oper are mostly around £82 and at most about £96 for next season with good tickets in the stalls available from anything from £25 to £28. Go to Berlin while you can at these prices.

© Jim Pritchard