The Metropolitan Opera's current production of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde has had problems, problems, problems, problems. But today's performance, which Elaine and I were fortunate to see as a Live in HD broadcast, was a triumph in all ways — musically, visually, and emotionally. Elaine has already found a detailed review. [Update: She's now written her own.]
The Met's Live in HD might be the most remarkable experience you'll ever have in a multiplex. The broadcasts are available in sixteen countries and one U.S. territory (Puerto Rico). For more information:
The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD
I wish that my friend Aldo Carrasco were here so that I could tell him that I've finally seen Tristan.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Tristan und Isolde, Live in HD
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 3
The HD show was great - with the exception of the experimenting of using many small screens/split screens - I found the swithches very distracting, adding nothing to the performances. Just because something can be done technically - doesn't mean it should be done.
I share your attitude — that technology makes it possible to do things, not necessary to do them. But for the most part, I liked having different views available. I thought the screen composition near the end, with Isolde in a tall, narrow rectangle, was esp. thoughtful. (The only change from the standard screen-shaped "window.")
Once or twice, with close-ups of several faces, the result looked to me too much like the title sequence from The Brady Bunch. (I'm a victim of television.)
The split-screen technique was beyond distracting. As a professional film/video editor, I thought this technique went out around 1987. I am sure the director was sincere in the attempt to add something to the production and perhaps the technique could have done so, but all I saw was reminiscent of when this was first available in the early 1980s with the "new" technology encouraging quick overuse. There's a reason you don't see much of it in feature films (the experimental "Timecode" with four stories occurring simultaneously being a rare and interesting exception), and that is that this is extremely interruptive to a narrative and you'd better have a really compelling reason to use it. For this wonderful opera, in my opinion, it was pretty much a failure, and when it first occurred, my first thought was "Brady Bunch"! It's too bad, because it almost ruined the experience for me. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was abandoned and the full screen remained, especially for the spectacular ending where Ms. Voight transcended all.
Post a Comment