Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner Welsh National Opera, 6 march 1993 Cardiff New Theater, Cardiff, Wales It was clear from the beginning that we were in for a night of magic in Cardiff. As the lights went down in the small, red theater, I saw the conductor's shadow spotlighted on the right wall, dancing in time to the swelling music in the light of his music stand. It was a beguiling start. It got so much better. This powerful opera reminded me again why the Wagner I have seen is simply in a different league from most of the standard opera repertoire. Especially when presented with such commanding performances and musicianship as we saw here, it is so much richer than most opera, so much more drawn from the richest emotional veins of life. Anne Evans and Jeffrey Lawton sang these most demanding roles superbly. Each worked at a high, consistent level throughout, emotional, lyrical, dramatic by turns. Act 1 ended on a powerful finale that seemed to me especially effective after the long interludes of solo and duet singing that preceded it. In Act II Lawton really opened it up, a strong commanding performance. Evans was splendid, always in complete command, throughout the opera a striking, handsome presence that dominated the whole house. In the margin of my program I see jotted "All in all , one of the best acts of opera I have ever seen." On reflection, even more so. I also noted strong performances from Della Jones (Brangäne), a strong open sound; and Peter Rose (King Marke), who sang very well in Act II, beautiful legato and a smooth round tone. The orchestra played beautifully; Mackerras was confident and poised throughout the difficult score. I looked down at the open score between acts and could only imagine how intimidating it must look to an eye schooled enough to recognize the complexity and virtuosity it demands. He never faltered. The sound in the small theater was all encompassing. Our seats toward the front of the balcony could not have been better. Interestingly, there was a break for dinner at the second interval. Warned ahead of time, we had brought a meal. They also sold tasty-looking box suppers. It was very civilized and made the 5 1/2 hour performance seem quite acceptable. We spent the night at Chepstow, 30 miles away, because there was a Wales-England rugby match in town that day, and no room at any inn. Later: Here is what Robert Hartford had to say about the performance in Opera Now, April 1993: "The world is now in two: those of us who were there when Anne Evans took on the mantle of Isolde and those who were not. We happy few can recognize all this lovely artist has done so far as her approach to Wagner's greatest creation. I can tell of her commanding yet vulnerable presence, her elegant and purposeful gesture, her taking of a note, her beguiling phrasing (and cunningly-calculated Luftpause), her coloring and her winning way with the words ... ; The pitiable rest can eke out their miserable lives, damned by the knowledge that they made arrangements to be elsewhere when, for a God-given span, Anne Evans was Isolde ... ; I have always warmed to [Jeffrey] Lawton's voice, flaws and all; here he was not just an ardent partner in Act II, sympathetic to Evans' sense of line, but the wounded-animal quality of his Act III portrayal was piteous to behold ... ; And what of the conducting of Charles Mackerras? To gloat over those absentees I have to say genius is a trifle on the mild side. To hear those miracles of orchestral balance, the way he would lift a line to bring out a detail, pause to give a singer room, slow one passage and hasten another with a flexibility as natural as his forward-moving progress through the score and to get playing of the highest imaginable quality, was to experience musicianship of a truly special order."