Art Matters: Katharina Wagner’s ’Meistersinger’ grapples with the fundamental issues of the work, finds Barry Emslie

Review of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, directed Katharina Wagner, conducted Weigle, Bayreuth, 2008 (Opus Arte, 2 DVDs). 

July 2011, Volume 5, Number 2, 86–8.

This a sensational set for two reasons: it is a record of a remarkable production and the DVD production team has scored an equally remarkable success in bringing it to the screen. As I was not expecting it to be anything like as stunning as it is, I feel driven to get some handle on the staging. This is also the case because I came to these DVDs rather prejudiced by a book of essays to which this Meistersinger gave birth, and which I reviewed in these pages. That led me to expect something messy and intellectually opportunistic. I was wrong.