Parsifal for me is one of Wagner's best, the music is rich with emotion and beauty and the story while very symbolic and lengthy is intriguing and with an atmosphere that really draws you in. But the opera is not an accessible one being one of Wagner's longest, and depending on what production you see or recording you hear first time it is very exhausting. This 2013 Parsifal from Salzburg is nowhere near the first choice of a generally strong DVD competition, but it is leagues ahead the 2011 production with Andrew Richards in the lead, which was musically great but was static, dull, visually bare and with the omission of the spear(which the opera actually revolves around) incoherent.
It is a case of the musical values faring better than the staging. The staging was not completely disastrous, because the Grail scenes were incredibly moving especially the one in Act 3 and there is a real sense of community in Act 1 between the knights. Credit should also be given for actually making an effort to include and address most of the opera's themes, like with the bruised Jesus and the evil dwarf for Klingsor they were very clearly presented and quite powerfully. Where the staging does fall down in others places is the lack of drama, some of it is very static and while nowhere near as incoherent as the 2011 production(it at least includes the dead swan and the spear) the narrative too often doesn't really go anywhere. Act 2 is where the production really goes downhill, the set doesn't look like a garden and it looks anything but magical, sensuality and tension is lacking too and the flower maidens is the least seductive of any production of Parsifal. The production never makes it clear as well what the significance was to have Amfortas and Klingsor performed by the same person.
Visually, excepting the disappointing Act 2 set and time and that you're not sure what time and place the setting is meant to be(it looks like a mix of half-traditional, half-modern, it was better than expected. The costumes at least look nice and the colours, shapes and symbols do leap out at you. The lighting captures the mystical nature of the opera beautifully, and the production looks and sounds great on DVD. The musical values however blow the visuals and staging out of the water here because it is extraordinary. Especially so in Christian Thielemann's conducting, which is delicate and sensitive yet authoritative and dramatic, there is a Straussian quality sometimes tempos-wise but that's not a bad thing at all. The orchestra sound equally phenomenal, the phrasing in the Act 1 prelude sounds so effortless, flowing into one phrase and another, and there is a sense of floating away into somewhere else. For a reduced in numbers orchestra there is plenty of power to be heard as well. The chorus are strong.
And the performances from the principals are very good, the best of them excellent. A better job on director Michael Schulz's part could have been done to individualise the characters more, especially with Parsifal but most of the cast are good enough actors to rise above that. Vocally, there's not a weak link, but from a dramatic point of view the only one to not convince was Johan Botha in the title role. He has a big voice that is thrilling and sweet, bringing a heroic and sensitive quality but unfortunately the heroism and sensitivity does not translate in his acting, dramatically he is rather unmotivated and looks awkward. Michaela Schuster doesn't have the most beautiful of voices- considering how taxing the role of Kundry is that isn't unusual actually- but it is heard with no problem and is perfectly enunciated. It is a thrilling sound that has much intensity and intelligent shaping. Dramatically, she does fare much better with Kundry's wildly haughty and sympathetic traits brought out and there is a real effort to make it her own either rather than be derivative of another interpretation.
Wolfgang Koch takes on the roles of Amfortas and Klingsor- a mammoth task and one that has, if memory serves correct, never been done before - and does bravely in both roles, if there was a choice as to which role he fared better in it would be Amfortas. He sings sonorously and eloquently as Amfortas and has a booming intensity for Klingsor, though for personal tastes he's a little more natural sounding in the former. Interpretation-wise for both roles he is spot on, portraying Amfortas with heart-rending anguish especially in Act 3 and Klingsor with un-forced menace. Stephen Milling is a very authoritative and noble Gurnemanz even if the character has been played with more wisdom, his timbre is truly beautiful and he phrases elegantly, for me the best singing of the production though Koch just out-classes him in the acting department.
Overall, musically extraordinary and visually quite good but inconsistent staging-wise, generally though it is worth the watch but there are better productions of Parsifal available. 7/10 Bethany Cox
It is a case of the musical values faring better than the staging. The staging was not completely disastrous, because the Grail scenes were incredibly moving especially the one in Act 3 and there is a real sense of community in Act 1 between the knights. Credit should also be given for actually making an effort to include and address most of the opera's themes, like with the bruised Jesus and the evil dwarf for Klingsor they were very clearly presented and quite powerfully. Where the staging does fall down in others places is the lack of drama, some of it is very static and while nowhere near as incoherent as the 2011 production(it at least includes the dead swan and the spear) the narrative too often doesn't really go anywhere. Act 2 is where the production really goes downhill, the set doesn't look like a garden and it looks anything but magical, sensuality and tension is lacking too and the flower maidens is the least seductive of any production of Parsifal. The production never makes it clear as well what the significance was to have Amfortas and Klingsor performed by the same person.
Visually, excepting the disappointing Act 2 set and time and that you're not sure what time and place the setting is meant to be(it looks like a mix of half-traditional, half-modern, it was better than expected. The costumes at least look nice and the colours, shapes and symbols do leap out at you. The lighting captures the mystical nature of the opera beautifully, and the production looks and sounds great on DVD. The musical values however blow the visuals and staging out of the water here because it is extraordinary. Especially so in Christian Thielemann's conducting, which is delicate and sensitive yet authoritative and dramatic, there is a Straussian quality sometimes tempos-wise but that's not a bad thing at all. The orchestra sound equally phenomenal, the phrasing in the Act 1 prelude sounds so effortless, flowing into one phrase and another, and there is a sense of floating away into somewhere else. For a reduced in numbers orchestra there is plenty of power to be heard as well. The chorus are strong.
And the performances from the principals are very good, the best of them excellent. A better job on director Michael Schulz's part could have been done to individualise the characters more, especially with Parsifal but most of the cast are good enough actors to rise above that. Vocally, there's not a weak link, but from a dramatic point of view the only one to not convince was Johan Botha in the title role. He has a big voice that is thrilling and sweet, bringing a heroic and sensitive quality but unfortunately the heroism and sensitivity does not translate in his acting, dramatically he is rather unmotivated and looks awkward. Michaela Schuster doesn't have the most beautiful of voices- considering how taxing the role of Kundry is that isn't unusual actually- but it is heard with no problem and is perfectly enunciated. It is a thrilling sound that has much intensity and intelligent shaping. Dramatically, she does fare much better with Kundry's wildly haughty and sympathetic traits brought out and there is a real effort to make it her own either rather than be derivative of another interpretation.
Wolfgang Koch takes on the roles of Amfortas and Klingsor- a mammoth task and one that has, if memory serves correct, never been done before - and does bravely in both roles, if there was a choice as to which role he fared better in it would be Amfortas. He sings sonorously and eloquently as Amfortas and has a booming intensity for Klingsor, though for personal tastes he's a little more natural sounding in the former. Interpretation-wise for both roles he is spot on, portraying Amfortas with heart-rending anguish especially in Act 3 and Klingsor with un-forced menace. Stephen Milling is a very authoritative and noble Gurnemanz even if the character has been played with more wisdom, his timbre is truly beautiful and he phrases elegantly, for me the best singing of the production though Koch just out-classes him in the acting department.
Overall, musically extraordinary and visually quite good but inconsistent staging-wise, generally though it is worth the watch but there are better productions of Parsifal available. 7/10 Bethany Cox
