Five hours is a long time to sit in a concert hall. Last week Avery Fisher Hall transformed twice into a semi-opera house for Peter Sellars' innovative production of the complete Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. The East Coast premiere of the production, called The Tristan Project , was originally co-commissioned by Lincoln Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Paris National Opera. The three collaborators (Salonen, Viola and Sellars) took huge risks with the project and it paid off. From the first unstable chord in the woodwinds to the last dual image of Isolde's drowning/ascension, The Tristan Project was truly a once-in-a-life-time experience.

On Saturday afternoon the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by a Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, played with effortless intensity and deeply felt passion. For fifteen seasons Mr Salonen has honed the uniquely fresh sound of the LAPhil. Over the years Mr Salonen has also started to contain his own need to control every detail. Last week LAPhil seemed, almost intuitively, to be able to articulate each musical phrase with extraordinary ease and clarity, and Wagner's 150 year-old opera sounded surprisingly contemporary. Above the orchestra hung a 30-foot-wide screen. Video artist Bill Viola's breath-taking films/ installations depicted images, in slow motion, of cleansing, water, fire and nature. In addition, the cathartic parallel story of Tristan and Isolde, played by actors, transported the audience to the other-worldly realm of Wagner's medieval tragedy.

The outstanding cast was lead by Christine Brewer (Isolde), recuperating from stomach flu, and Christian Franz (Tristan), who will sing both Siegfrieds in the Met's new Ring cycle in 2009. Their vocal stamina and emotional honesty were both awe-inspiring and convincing. Mesmerizing Anne Sofie von Otter sang Brangä ne, Isolde’s servant, with that superior artistry that we have learned to expect from her. Bass-baritone Jukka Rasilainen (Kurnewal, Tristan’s faithful friend) oozed raw and electrifying power combined with his perfect articulation of German. And American tenor Michael Slattery (Sailor's Voice/Shephard), known to the larger audience as the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, stunned the spectators with the unalloyed beauty of his voice.

Director Peter Sellars used the whole space of Avery Fisher Hall ingeniously and imaginatively. Mr Sellars' empty stage and space specific approaches to staging didn't rely on historical costumes, props or elaborate stage designs to tell the story (of love, sex, betrayal and death) or to create a spectacle. On the contrary, Mr Sellars trusted the power of imagination to fill in the gaps; by doing less, he illuminated the world in which these archetypal characters heroically struggled. This very economy of signifiers contributed to the unprecedented total art work, gesamtkunstwerk.

Wed May 2 and Sat May 5, 2007