This is it, I’ve been searching for years, it’s been my sole mission in life: to search for the last piece of music I’d listen to before going deaf. This is it...the one piece to end it all.
Waltraud Meier. I wish she were named & given the credit for this in the description of the video. She truly has the inner Valkyrie singing through her.
I was thinking about what I'd liked played at my end....This is high on my list... I also love Fauré's Req. To be fair Wagner's music touches my soul, if there is such a thing....
Wow! Please excuse my figure of speech but that lady should get an Oscar for that performance, as not only was it exquisitely vocally rendered but every emotional second was expressed and lived to the full. Waltraud Meier is the best Isode I have ever seen. What more can I possibly say?
spent twenty years of my life deeply invested in all kinds of music, popular to obscure, old to new, electronic to performed, experimental to traditional, western to the remotest folk traditions. I've listened to tens of thousands of musical performances from a hundred cultures. this right here is in my opinion one of the greatest musical works ever created and I've had this opinion for a long time.
I do not think I could agree more. This might be it-the perfect balance between heart and mind as Schoenberg described in all great art. A total Masterwork-ageless and we still are moved by it and marvel at it.
MARC, THERE ARE MANY PINNACLES IN THE MOUNTAIN RANGES OF MUSICAL TOPOGRAPHY, BACH, MOZART, MONTEVERDI, INUMERABLE PINNACLES. BUT IT IS A MILESTONE SURELY
From the first notes you can see that Isolde is already moving to another plane of existence in Meier's physical expression as well as her siingularly beautiful and emotionally perfect singing. This is perfornance at the pinnacle of musical magnificence.
Stunning woman with a face MADE for theater. She sings the piece like a song. Simple and direct...almost like an ecstatic dream. A lesson in how a brilliant singing actress can surmount occasional vocal limitations (let's be honest) to deliver a performance of extraordinary depth.
The best I’ve heard yet. I agree, with all due respect to the amazing Divas who have tackled this magnificently haunting and complex piece. Who is this singer?
@@anna_thema3732 OMG! Didn't know that. Loved BB. And there's Downton Abbey movie too. I'm just recovering from seeing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood twice (so far). Wagnerian in its own way.
When I was a child, my father would put the headsets on me and play this aria. When he died 3 years ago, he asked my mom to keep playing this as he peacefully embraced his eternal rest .
This is the gold standard of Wagnerian interpretations. All apologies to Ms Norman - may she rest in peace... But Waltraud is the best Wagnerian soprano of this century. The vibrato at 6:15 is perfection.
This century? You probably mean the last century and I have to disagree. She was one of the best, but there were many really got wagnerian sopranos, like Nilsson, Flagstad and so on.
This is a remarkable performance. Her powerful voice resounds with feeling. She communicates the character's pain with great sensitivity and depth. Tremendous. I believe someone wrote that this performer is Joan Sutherland but I think it actually is Waltraud Meier. My apologies if I am incorrect on this.
You're absolutely correct about the performer and the quality of the performance. The character is not in pain, though. Although this is familiarly known as the 'Liebestod' - 'love of death' - it's not a phrase Wagner himself ever used. For him - and he was into a spot of Eastern mysticism - Isolde is transfiguring; moving toward a higher plane where she will be reunited with Tristan.
Absolutely correct. This is definitely not Joan Sutherland, who I heard live several times. The timbre, the vocal approach, and the emotional involvement are all Waltraud's doing. Sutherland had recorded this late in her career and it is good but nothing like this.
INCREDIBLE!!! ... what an outstanding performance. Wagner would say: ...Waltraud Meier is my Isolde. Thanks for uploading this Video ....I am watching this nearly every day.
Sparkling ecstasy in Wagner's tragic Finale of Tristan und Isolde - shall I breathe, soll ich lauschen? Shall I listen? Soll ich schlürfen, Shall I drink, untertauchen? immerse? Süß in Düften Sweetly in fragrances mich verhauchen? melt away? In dem wogenden Schwall, In the billowing torrent, in dem tönenden Schall, in the resonating sound, in des Welt-Atems wehendem All --- in the wafting Universe of the World-Breath --- ertrinken, drown, versinken --- be engulfed --- unbewußt --- unconscious --- höchste Lust! supreme delight!
I'm German, and I've not realised the full extent of the incredible beauty of these lyrics. The English is a literal translation, but these German rhymes are incredibly powerful, just wow.
Really we are in the precense of a sex-love act ... Isolda imagine that is possesed by her lover ... we know her inner feelings in the huge orchrestra description ... her words are not full of pain ... they are full of joy!!! ... Meier not only sings ... she feels how love flows into her ... the climax is wonderful ...
I teared listening to this. The best performance of the Liebestod and the best of Meier's interpretations. This piece and this performance is the zenith of humanity's greatest musical achievements. Music is a transfer of artistic emotional power through sound. Meier does this perfectly - I truly felt for Isolde's tragic end.
This is definitely the best Isolde I've ever SEEN, the acting is everything! The best I've ever heard is probably Flagstad, whose voice is so full and not sheep-ish.
I agree. I love Brigit Nilsson, but the passion is with Waltraud Meier. You can feel the billowing torrent and supreme delight. I am totally engulfed with chills every time I hear it.
I'm a big music lover since I remember myself... Classical music is my all-time passion. And I must confess that this particular masterpiece is the ultimate one of what the Music is itself. Certainly God blessed one
This is the best Isolde ever... Wow!! Incredible! I almost could feel her emotion thru my whole body. I almost could not breath for fear that this aria will be coming to an end. Bravo !!
I think this my favorite rendition of this portion of Wagner'sTristan. Who is this Diva? I can't get enough of the exquisite beauty with which she portrays this absolutely beautiful expression to perfection
WALTRAUD MEIER The 20 Greatest Wagner Singers of All Time The finest exponents of the German master's operas from the 1920s to the present day. by Clive Paget on 16 October, 2013 @@gordonmcconnell4527 ( please read here about her )
Isolde was an Irish princess. I send this video to friends on March 17 and wish them a "Happy Highbrow St. Patrick's Day." Everyone in this world needs to hear this.
Die hübscheste aller meiner Isolden...und dazu auch noch so grandios....wer will da nicht Tristan sein...RW...i am speechlesse... hoffentlich richtig geschrieben
MY GRANDMOTHER ,A JULIARD TRAINED CONTRA-ALTO,WHO SANG WAGNER,she said,''''there is something,a power unknown which comes over you when you sing wagner,''this lady encompasses this from about 4:00 on,thank you waltraud
I have been to several live concerts of T & I over the years as well as listening to these recorded versions and IMHO no other singer comes close to this Waltraud performance. It brings tears to my eyes every time. Thank you for posting it
Don't understand why some people need to compare Meier with Flagstad or Patti Page for that matter. This is merely a wonderful performance by a great Wagnerian soprano. Can't we just leave it at that?
Waltraute Meyer is a pure force of nature, a hurricane of emotional sound, projected by flawless technique and fierce intelligence. This is art... Thank you!
What can you say? This piece it completely capturing the transcendence of Love and Death I love the way she immediately moves away from Tristan - and basically is transfixed at that remote fixpoint of Death during the entire act. This is about something that transcends human love - and that is why this music still today remains so powerful and captivating
absolument magique, et quand cette voix puissante et belle couvre l'orchestre déjà fortissimo, j'ai la chair de poule et des larmes aux yeux. en plus on voit très très bien, avec ce plan fixe et rapproché, le travail de toute la tête vers 5'23 : extraordinaire
one of the best best opera productions ever, an immense Isolde. this is Tristan, my friends!! I must quote Nietzsche:“Tristan and Isolde is the real opus metaphysicum of all art. . . insatiable and sweet craving for the secrets of night and death. . . it is overpowering in its simple grandeur”, “Even now I am still in search of a work which exercises such a dangerous fascination, such a spine-tingling and blissful infinity as Tristan - I have sought in vain, in every art.
My biggest problem with Wagner if deciding which of his compositions I like most. This one is so emotionally draining - it really pulls at the heartstrings - in a good way. I've always adored Kirsten Flagstad, but it's a good thing that contemporaries are singing this piece with aplomb! Very enjoyable.
