Opera on 3 - 21.05.11 Wagner's Parsifal

[Mandryka]

I have seen the extant ENO and ROH productions, neither of which I like, though the ROH one - an import from Spain - is so hopelessly unimaginative it would work better as a concert version.

For recordings, I would make Solti and (DG) Karajan my first port of call, with Knappertsbusch '51 bringing up the rear.

[gradus]

I came to the piece throught the Boulez recording and have heard several conductors live inc Horst Stein at Bayreuth in the seventies. Unsurprisingly Parsifal in the Festspielhaus live is pretty hard to beat and the whole thing flew by in about five minutes so it seemed.

[Bert Coules]

The Rough Guide To Opera... dismisses Karajan and Solti: "... Karajan's movingly conducted account for [DG] is let down by weak casting; the reverse is the problem with Solti ..." I can't see anything weak in the singing on Karajan, and how can Solti be let down by singing that is the reverse of weak?

I think the Rough Guide is saying that the Solti set has strong casting but is let down by the conducting - the exact opposite of their view of the Karajan.

[Flosshilde]

As well as the Syberberg DVD, I have the Knappertsbusch 1951 Bayreuth (on Naxos - an absolute bargain), which is splendid, & Thielmann's with Domingo at the Vienna State Opera (haven't listened to this enough to be able to comment on it), plus Boulez on audio cassettes.

[ostuni]

I saw the ENO Parsifal, and am looking forward to hearing how it sounds. I was much more impressed by Tomlinson than was Flosshilde: the stunningly clear diction and the expressive stage presence more than made up for the occasional wobble, for me. And Gurnemanz is supposed to be old!

My favourite recorded performance is Kubelik, with Kurt Moll's Gurnemanz, James King's Parsifal, and Yvonne Minton's Kundry equally strong. The 51 Kna has an absolutely stunning Kundry from Martha Modl, and the young Windgassen impressive as Parsifal (not 100% accurate in notes or rhythms...), but some shockingly poor orchestral playing in places.

[Flosshilde]

I saw the ENO Parsifal, and am looking forward to hearing how it sounds. I was much more impressed by Tomlinson than was Flosshilde: the stunningly clear diction and the expressive stage presence more than made up for the occasional wobble, for me. And Gurnemanz is supposed to be old!

I've no argument with Tomlinson's characterisation of the part - it was, for me, an interesting portrayal of an old man who seemed confused & disturbed by what was going on. In the final scene he siezed on the spear as if it was the only thing he could understand. However, fine interpretation dramatically as it was, Tomlinson's almost constant (more than occasional) wobble menat that musically it wasn't so good.

(& I've just remembered that I won't be able to listen on Saturday anyway as I'm going to a wedding )

[NickWraight]

I went to the last night of the recent ENO run and was gripped from start to finish despite attending 2 days after returning from NZ! John Tom was on fabulous form that night, all the words were audible with very little wobble and amazing stage presence, as was the conductor and band. I took a very long time to appreciate the piece and this performance completed the journey. The current ROH production left me totally cold.

[Flosshilde]

Any comments on last night's broadcast?

I listened to bits & JT's wobble was just as intrusive as when I saw it. I did wonder at the time if it was because it seemed to be a very slow performance (musically) (did anyone make a note of the timings?) & it was difficult to stretch the sound of the English text to fit the music - English, I feel, compared with Italian & German, is a rather abrupt language, with short words & few drawn-out vowel sounds.

[ostuni]

I heard nearly all of Act 1: not really ideal conditions as I was in the car driving back home (but I was by myself, so I could have it on very loud!). And I thought of your remarks, Flosshilde: the wobble was certainly more noticeable without the visuals - not surprising, really. Perceptions of vocal quality are very personal - for me, I'd still say that I was sometimes (rather than almost constantly) disturbed by the wobble. But I absolutely agree about those vowel sounds: I hadn't really noticed in the theatre, but on radio some of it did sound rather strange. OTOH, my German isn't good enough to be able to understand every word in an original-language performance, so the ability to understand every word of Gurnemanz's storytelling certainly adds something.

I didn't stay with the broadcast - not because I wasn't enjoying it, but it had already been a pretty long day, playing some very different music (Dufay, Binchois!), so I needed a break from it all when I got home.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, Gurnemanz certainly does have a lot to say - a bit like the Ancient Mariner! I bet those pages & young knights got a bit fed up with his stories - he probably tells them every day.

In the theatre, of course, there were surtitles - I found myself referring to them probably more than I needed to, being lazy & therefore concentrated less on what Gurnemanz was saying & perhaps more on how JT was singing it.