I just returned from the Metropolitan Opera live HD broadcast of "Tristan" in my local cinema

[UndertheOcean]

wow, that was a religious experience, I am still shaking.

Deborah Voigt was wonderful.

[UndertheOcean]

1. Another thing, I was the only one under 30

ALL the audience were senior citizens

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I saw Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner at the Met a few years ago - it was fucking awesome!!

Absolutely f-ing awesome!!

Deborah Voigt was quite fat at the time, so the "Oh, I'm wasting away from not eating!" part was pretty funny, but gods, what a voice she has!

It was sublime. A truly brilliant performance by everyone in it, but Voigt and Heppner were utterly perfect together - beautiful blend of voices, and they made me feel that they were truly in love.

Oh, man, what a high point of my life that one was.

[Aristus]

3. I saw "Tristan" at the Seattle Opera with Jane Eaglen.

Her voice couldn't make up for the fact that she looked like she was smuggling five or six other people around under her gown. I thought the age of the zaftig Wagnerian soprano was supposed to be over...

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Listened to most of it on the radio...

and, yeah, that was one hell of a "Tristan..."

Wish I coulda seen it, but a DVD will most assuredly be out (as a PBS pledge premium, no doubt, or a brazillion bucks from the Met store.)

Thing about Wagner, though, is that all too often, even with someone incredible like Voight, I'd rather listen to the music without the singing. It's not just that it's in German, but it always seems like they are straining to make sense of the libretto. (If you could even call it a libretto.)

Now, Tristan, or the Ring, as a ballet-- would anybody pay to see that?