This concert performance of Tannhäuser finished Zurich Opera's visit to London, a visit originally planned to juxtapose Wagner's great examination of the relationship between spirit and flesh with Haydn's rarely performed Armida, a radically different study of the same subject. Armida, planned as a vehicle for Cecilia Bartoli, was jettisoned, for whatever reason, late last year.
This is a shame, for without it we don't get a sense of this company's uniqueness. The Zurich Opera has always scheduled rarities alongside established masterpieces, and has attracted a roster of big name stars with a regularity that most other opera houses would envy. Tannhäuser on its own only gives half the story - and it does not find the company at its best.
The conductor, Franz Welser-Möst, thoughtfully emphasised the score's links to the earlier German Romantics. There is a strong reminder of Schumann in the poise of the woodwind writing and the warm clarity of the strings. The whirling excitement of Venus's music, meanwhile, peers back to the beguiling sorcery of Weber's Oberon. The opera was beautifully played, but what Welser-Möst missed was the qualities that mark Wagner off from his antecedents - the plunge into extravagant sonic and psychological territory, the unremitting exploration of emotional, sexual and spiritual extremes.
The singing was uneven. Thomas Hampson, as Wolfram, sang faultlessly and was noble in his suffering, with just the right hint of mystic eroticism in his attraction to Elisabeth. Peter Seiffert's Tannhäuser was slightly disappointing beside his recent recording of the role for Daniel Barenboim. His stamina was impressive, as was the sheer heft of his singing, though there was an occasional absence of poetic refinement.
The women were not ideally matched. Liuba Chuchrova's Venus, a black-clad dominatrix, lashed Tannhäuser with unsteady decibels rather than seducing him with voluptuous tone. Solveig Kringelborn's Elisabeth was deeply problematic. Wagner equates virginity with female autonomy and power, endowing Elisabeth with the strength to single handedly take on a gang of armed men in an attempt to save Tannhäuser's life. Kringelborn, simpering and fluttery, is not nearly tough enough. A good Tannhäuser, though sadly not a great one.
