These are some press comments on Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Gothenburg Opera, March 2003:

I find it delightful that the Gothenburg Opera has chosen a young Swedish conductor for such a prestigious task, and even more delightful is the fact that Patrik Ringborg makes such a great achievement. It is chamber-musical, it is intelligent, it is sensual, and the playing and singing is very good.
We will see what the Stockholm Opera has to offer when Tristan is performed there next year. The Gothenburg Opera has set the musical level very high indeed.
(Swedish State Television, 01.04.2003)

... But nevertheless it becomes a very sensual performance, pointing out the intimate intoxication of Wagner's music. The reason is not least the eminent orchestral playing under the baton of Patrik Ringborg. What an extraordinary clarity and transparency Ringborg has in his interpretation! What a melodic warmth and contrast in sound! The key words seem to be "lyrical intensity", which also applies to the way it's sung. ... It is a Wagner, emanating from the German Lieder-tradition, in a way, as if Schubert and Schumann were co-composers. The result is one of a kind.
(Göteborgsposten, 31.03.2003)

Patrik Ringborg leads the well sounding orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera in a controlled and exactly measured way, in order to, when appropriate, transform phrases into whip lashes. It is Wagner for our time (here for the first time in the new critical edition of the score by the Richard-Wagner-Gesamtausgabe), - and it is throughout probable, that Gothenburg's opera orchestra currently can been regarded as the best opera orchestra in the country. "Tristan and Isolde" in Gothenburg is not least therefore a performance going directly to the heart.
(Svenska Dagbladet, 31.03.2003)

... the drama springs from the orchestra ... and becomes intense and clear in its lines, not least thanks to Patrik Ringborg's absolutely steady grip on the score and to the never failing contrast in orchestral details. ... The never interrupted intensity in the orchestral playing renders a diversity to the layers of this everything but uninteresting interpretation of Tristan.
(Aftonbladet, 31.03.2003)

At the Gothenburg Opera the playing is touching and impressively consistent, and there are many elements to embrace while simultaneously raising questions to discuss.
Patrik Ringborg is the young conductor, leading the orchestra through a very tender interpretation of Wagner's music; is it incredibly delightful, how he dares being so exact with the pausing and the chamber musical elements.
(Sveriges Radio P1 - Kulturnytt, 31.03.2003)

... instead the orchestra is responsible for the strong lasting impression. The Gothenburg Opera has been rather daring, in letting all cast members make their debuts in this production. Conductor Patrik Ringborg does this with great bravura - such a chamber musical penetration of the score is seldom heard. His musicianship also comprises great dynamics in a forceful orchestral playing.
The precision is great into the smallest detail, especially in the wood winds.
(Tidskriften Opera, 04.2003)

The orchestral prelude is beautifully and thoroughly worked out by the orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera under the conductor Patrik Ringborg.
(Expressen, 31.03.2003, GT, 31.03.2003)

Already at the start of the prelude - with the famous chord which can be considered as one of the first nails in the casket of tonality - the feverish atmosphere emanating from this whole oeuvre is sounding, and release is not to be found until the last bar of the finale. What goes on between those points can only be described as a miracle, in which word and tone, singers and orchestra are woven into an absolutely superb unity.
A magnificent player during this evening was the orchestra of the Opera, which reached ever loftier heights under the baton of Patrik Ringborg. The conductor offered an interpretation, extremely balanced in sound and tempo, full of tensions, exactly like it has to be in "Tristan und Isolde".
(Hallands Nyheter, 31.03.2003)

Patrik Ringborg elaborates a mature music making. The orchestra has a wonderful sound and the solo passages are well controlled. There is symphonic width and dramatic consequence. In the words "music drama", the word "music" is emphasised. Gothenburg has ventured for volume, endurance and musical credibility.
(Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 31.03.2003)

The enchanting effect of the Tristan music was mediated in an extremely meritorious way by the conductor Patrik Ringborg and the orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera.
(Skånska Dagbladet, 02.04.2003)

... a flow of music and emotions developed into boundlessness and the almost hallucinatory. At the Gothenburg Opera this state becomes extraordinary clear with a reproduction of the score, sharp in details, rich in contrast and filled with sound as well as an almost lyrical layout of the vocal parts...
(Hallandsposten, 02.04.2003)

Little can destroy the four and a half hours of dramatic music. And it is gorgeously performed by the orchestra of the Opera, which in conductor Patrik Ringborg has been given the man, who in the first place saves this production.
(Kulturspeijlet, 30.03.2003, pluto.no)

Conductor: Patrik Ringborg, very young, lead the audience through the five hours of singing and music. All details are made clearly transparent. The orchestra sounds like one voice.
(Dalslänningen, 06.05.2003)

The orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera under Ringborg carries the whole production with well-known authority.
(Borås Tidning, 31.03.2003)

The orchestra brings as usual a consummate performance, this time under the baton of Patrik Ringborg.
(Ulricehamns Tidning, 01.04.2003)

But it is compensated for by the musical tidal wave, fully pouring out its flow of emotions out of the extraordinary wellspring of sound in the orchestra pit. The conductor Patrik Ringborg leads the orchestra of the Gothenburg Opera with power and sensibility to a triumph of high rank. The orchestra often sounds great, but this experience boards to the supernatural.
(KulturNytt i Sjuhärad, 05.2003)

The conductor Patrik Ringborg should be praised for a clear and held-back music making, which gives the soloists - without risk to be drowned - space for nuances and soft phrasing.
(Børsen, 07.04.2003)

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