By Renaud Loranger [Financial Times, 23 March 2011]
Call it the triumph of the anti-heroes. As Tristan exits the stage at the end of Act Three, he has become a disillusioned, grumpy old fool whose dabbling in drugs has only provided momentary marital bliss. He rants about the past while Kurwenal keeps himself to himself, then vanishes into darkness. Isolde, ageing and frail, tends to a coffin before singing a listless “Liebestod”.