Tannhäuser

When a choreographer as famous and innovative as Sasha Waltz is tapped to direct an opera, one expects that dance will play a significant role—and so it does in this 2014 production of Richard Wagner's tale of a knight torn between carnal lust and pure love staged at the Staatsoper Berlin. Waltz has hardly turned the piece into a virtual ballet, but her influence clearly encouraged conductor Daniel Barenboim to add the extended bacchanale from the Paris version of the opera to the Dresden score he otherwise follows, giving her troupe a further chance to shine (elsewhere, even though the background dancing can be occasionally distracting, it is generally well-integrated into the action). Set in a vaguely 19th-century milieu rather than the Middle Ages, the staging here is quite restrained and elegant, with particularly refined costumes and lighting. Musically, the performance is a very strong one, with Barenboim providing powerful orchestral background for some wonderfully exceptional vocalism from Peter Seiffert as Tannhäuser, Peter Mattei as Wolfram (who delivers the famous song to the evening star beautifully), and René Pape as Landgraf Hermann. The women who represent Lust and Love—Marina Prudenskaya as Venus and Ann Petersen as Elisabeth—are only slightly less impressive. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM stereo on DVD, and DTS-HD 5.1 and PCM stereo on Blu-ray, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)