It happened again! Another Tristan came off the bench at Lyric Opera, February 16, 2009

Anyway, here’s last year’s story:

We’ve all surely had occasion this winter to comment that “something’s going around the office” as colleagues fall victim to colds and flu, but this is ridiculous! Six singers have made unscheduled Met debuts in the past two weeks, and one of them, the American tenor Robert Dean Smith, threw down a Tristan that ought to rank as one of those “Were you there?” moments.

(AP Photo/The Metropolitan

Opera, Marty Sohl)

This “dream team” Tristan run opened to a Ben Heppner withdrawal with John Mac Master filling in, but not successfully enough to go on a second time. Gary Lehmann got good reviews for the second night, but Deborah Voight bolted from the stage (stomach thing) and Janice Baird finished for her as Isolde, so the performance came to a conclusion with two understudies. To add injury to illness, Lehman fell into the prompter’s box at the third performance, stopping the show again while doctors checked him over.

(Chicago locals may remember Lehman’s tenure in the Chicago Lyric Opera’s young artist program, now known as the Ryan Center.)

The jinx found its way over to Verdi land, with National Council Auditions winner Angela Meade making her Met debut in Ernani — her very first professional performance, ever. (The casualty in that case: Sondra Rodvanovsky.) Meanwhile, Ruth Ann Swenson was replaced by Ermonela Jaho as Violetta in Traviata.

So it was with mild trepidation that we settled into our seats this past Saturday for the simulcast at a downtown Chicago movieplex. At that time I’d read of the revolving stage door, but hadn’t followed the story enough to know of Smith’s appearance. I was expecting to hear perhaps a recovered Heppner, or more probably Lehmann, but was prepared for anything. When backstage host Susan Graham announced Robert Dean Smith’s name, John and I, with delight, recalled his impressive work in this season’s Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Chicago Lyric Opera. There, he played the Emperor to Voight’s Empress, a coincidence we can thank for these two artists having something on which to base their touching chemistry in Act 2, despite not having rehearsed this Tristan together.

Smith is an established artist, so this is not one of those stories where the kid goes out an understudy and comes back a STAR! He’s been the Bayreuth Tristan for some time now (amusingly, snagging that gig as a last-minute replacement for Peter Seiffert in the 1997 Meistersinger). He’s currently preparing for the Berlin Tannhauser, for which he had to sacrifice some rehearsal time to appear on this broadcast. Given his accomplishments and watching his seemingly well-prepared stage performance, I was surprised to learn that he hasn’t sung in that very production before. In fact, Smith flew to New York from Berlin on Thursday, leaving him only Friday to learn the staging.

(Let’s also give some props to Deborah Voight, who by this time had sung four performances — sometimes ailing herself — with three Tristans, none of whom she’d been able to rehearse with, and two of whom she’d never even met. “It makes the love scenes interesting,” she commented during a backstage interview. Up close, I was struck with her commanding presence, but it never detracted from the vulnerability that I’ve always enjoyed about her Sieglinde. Based on this Tristan and the Chicago Frau and Salome, I agree with the critics who notice that her voice has become brighter recently.)

Smith’s voice is not a hefty one but it’s gorgeous and supple, sounding effortlessly flawless throughout. The details in his phrasing and the expressiveness of his face had me in his corner from the beginning, and his final “Isolde!” had my eyes unexpectedly wet. At this point, Smith gave every impression that he had enough juice left in him, after completing one of opera’s most lengthy and demanding roles under these difficult circumstances, to have sung a Liebestod of his own.

Some reviewers have called Smith underpowered in the Met theater. “In a smaller theater Mr. Smith would surely have been a sensation, and he may well have made a greater impression in the broadcasts than he did in the house,” wrote Steve Smith. Steve: yep on that one. I noticed a couple of times he was very briefly drowned out by the orchestra, but I’ve seen that happen to the likes of Rene Pape in the CSO venue and even James Morris at Lyric. Be assured that in our movie theater Robert Dean Smith was a sensation. I can only imagine the impression he makes in a “hitter’s park” like Bayreuth, and I’ve heard with my own ears his lack of such trouble in Strauss. Smith had no problem being heard, and heard with nuance, in the acoustically hostile Lyric Opera venue in “Frau” — and I notice that he was slated to make his Met debut next year in that same role.

Ken Winters of the Globe and Mail provides a more general review of the performance and addresses the controversial split-screen approach from broadcast director Barbara Willis Sweete. In a backstage interview, Sweete mentioned that the idea is to give the audience a choice about what to look at. And I did enjoy seeing the close-ups of the fully committed acting from not only Smith but from the regal Voight and especially Matti Salminen, whose warm, lyrical King Marke was a departure from his usual intimidating, negative-space-filled bass, so perfect for roles like Hagen and the Grand Inquisitor. For all I know, it could be a necessary adaptation to Salminen’s advancing age, but it did the trick for me. Unfortunately, as John mentioned, the split screen greatly compromised the “you are there” feeling.

This same abstract, Dieter Dorn/Jürgen Rose production is already available on a DVD from a few years ago, featuring Heppner and Jane Eaglen. That DVD is more traditionally shot by the excellent director, Brian Large.

Update

On Friday, March 28, the Met’s “Dream Team” Tristan run came to its scheduled conclusion with Ben Heppner and Deborah Voight taking the stage together for the first time. Voight had again called in sick for the fifth performance (three days after her broadcast with Robert Dean Smith). So here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of the run:

• Performance 1: Deborah Voight and John Mac Master
• Performance 2: Deborah Voight (replaced midway through with Janice Baird) and Gary Lehman
• Performance 3: Deborah Voight and Gary Lehman (who fell into the prompter’s box but completed the performance)
• Performance 4: Deborah Voight and Robert Dean Smith
• Performance 5: Janice Baird and Ben Heppner
• Performance 6: Deborah Voight and Ben Heppner!!!

Update on Mon, Mar 24, 08 at 05:25 by John Gibbons

Missed It? Hear Robert Dean Smith as Tristan

Wagner: Tristan Und Isolde - Scenes Linda Watson and Robert Dean Smith Oehms:527 · $13.99

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Tristan und Isolde $39.99 Ben Heppner was slated to sing in the Tristan that Robert Dean Smith stepped in at the last minute for. To see Heppner in an earlier performance of the same production with Jane Eaglen, try this DVD. Store: Barnes & Noble Richard Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde (DVD) $38.28 3-Disc Set Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved. Store: Overstock.com Great Recordings Of The Century: Tristan Und Isolde $81.18 Great Recordings Of The Century: Tristan Und Isolde. Furtwangler conducts Kirsten Flagstad. Store: Buy.com Tristan Und Isolde Piano Transcriptions Of Franz $12.99 Msr:1149 Store: ArkivMusic

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Rhapsody¹ has several recordings of Tristan und Isolde to listen to on your computer or mp3 player. Here a couple of the legendary ones:

Karajan - Vinay - Modl - Hotter*

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