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Episode details

Radio 3,21 Mar 2026,329 mins

Wagner's Tristan and Isolde

Opera on 3

Available for 27 days

From the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Wagner's depiction of the intense, forbidden love between a Cornish knight and an Irish princess. Tristan has been tasked with transporting Isolde to Cornwall to marry his uncle, King Marke. It's not a good start, as Isolde knows Tristan killed her fiance Morold. She orders her maid to prepare a poison for them both, but Brangäne has other ideas, and substitutes a love potion instead. Wagner's music all stems from the opening 'Tristan chord', using unprecedented chromaticism, tonal ambiguity and harmonic suspension. Lise Davidsen takes on one of the ultimate roles for dramatic soprano, with Michael Spyres as the love-drunk Tristan. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the work for the first time. Presented from New York by Debra Lew Harder and Ira Siff. Wagner: Tristan and Isolde Isolde ..... Lise Davidsen (soprano) Tristan ..... Michael Spyres (tenor) Brangäne ..... Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo-soprano) King Marke ..... Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone) Kurwenal ..... Tomasz Konieczny (bass-baritone) Steersman ..... Ben Brady (bass-baritone) Melot ..... Thomas Glass (baritone) Shepherd ..... Jonas Hacker (tenor) Sailor's Voice ..... Ben Reisinger (tenor) Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Chorus and Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor)

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  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Sextet in E flat major Op.81b
    Sextet in E flat major Op.81b
    Ludwig van Beethoven
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