Parsifal (ROH)

[gurnemanz]

I didn't go to the dress, but I hear that some ardent and astute Wagnerians enjoyed it very much. So I am not deterred by Prommer's report, still less by DracoM's comment based on nothing other than that report.

I am certainly ardent (not sure about astute) so I'm glad to hear there is a good chance we might enjoy it, after all.

[underthecountertenor]

It's entirely possible that we'll all hate it nevertheless! Hopefully at least Tony P and the orchestra will have their act together for tonight. Have fun (if that's the word)!

[Prommer]

Enjoy! I'm sure some of you will, which (although I disliked it) is rather the point of going - though in hope rather than expectation is safer!

[Prommer]

How did you get on with it, Richard?

[gurnemanz]

Telegraph review confirms great performances with dodgy staging. Over the last 40 years or more I have attempted and failed to get to grips with exactly what Parsifal is "about", (partly no doubt because Wagner himself was not quite sure). This has never stopped me enjoying listening to it and getting carried away by the whole experience. I agree with the Telegraph headline which suggests that a cogent and convincingly coherent staging is probably not possible. Meanwhile, I'll wait and see if the production actually does have any worthwhile new interpretative insights on offer.

[Petrushka]

Over the last 40 years or more I have attempted and failed to get to grips with exactly what Parsifal is "about", (partly no doubt because Wagner himself was not quite sure). This has never stopped me enjoying listening to it and getting carried away by the whole experience.

I've been listening to Parsifal for about the same time (since 1971) and strangely enough have never actually wondered what it is 'about'! It just is.

[Richard Tarleton]

A fine performance, and a production which, whilst it raised a few unanswered questions about itself, succeeded on its own terms, would be my verdict. From having been thoroughly apprehensive my friend and fellow Wagner veteran and I came away well satisfied.

First and perhaps perversely a word about the audience. From my vantage point in mid-row M in the amphitheatre, I was much struck by the deep silence and concentration of the audience - barely a cough for two acts, just a slight flurry from somewhere behind us early in Act 3. The response of the audience fully matched the translucent playing by the orchestra. It was very striking - I have not experienced anything like it in 45 years at the ROH, though others may well have. And at the curtain calls (I well remember boos for Richard Jones's Rheingold, for example), the director and design team were well received.

I was expecting Amfortas's intensive care bed after hearing Gerald Finley talking to Sean R on In Tune - the design was contemporary, and once one had grasped that other details made a bit more sense. The four "knights" who set off with pistols after the first Grail ceremony were contemporary "soldiers", special forces maybe [why does Rupert C call them "mobsters"?], setting off on a mission, with the blessing of the Grail. After all, a bit earlier, we had heard Gawain being criticised by Amfortas for setting off on a new mission without permission.

In fact there were one or two details - that and Klingsor's castration for example - which might not have been clear to someone in the amphitheatre who was not looking through opera glasses at the time. I remember one or two instances like that from the recent Ring. Another was that the swan - a realistic mute swan (an unusual species in the Pyrenees ) was still twitching as it lay on the ground, a nice touch.

And the boy was not so much stabbed as nicked by Amfortas (not Titurel - a typo there from Rupert C) and though it sounds ghastly it made a certain amount of sense, they were simply taking the "body and blood" a bit too literally. Likewise Parsifal's blinding was understandable, and just about made textual sense - the director is perhaps just the first to take literally Parsifal's "...since no repentence, no atonement, can free me of my blindness" in Act 3. When Gurnemanz says "thus do I bless your head....lift the last burden from his head", and Kundry is baptised and then removes the bandages from Parsifal's eyes, his sight restored, his utterance "How fair seem the meadows today" is especially moving. I was reminded, of all things, of the ancient Anton Walbroook fim of Jules Verne's "Michael Strogoff", and the scene where Michael's bandages are removed - he and Parsifal cut not dissimilar figures.

And the floozy flower maidens were fine - it was a garden, there were flowers for goodness sakes, what more does RC want?

The singing was superb, a strong cast throughout, not a weak link in sight. I wasn't aware of Angela Denoke being "defeated" by the end of Act 2, I thought she was excellent. And Rupert C does not comment, surprisingly, on her Rebekah Brooks wig in Act 3 , which somehow gets toned down after her baptism. René Pape was outstanding, a glorious Gurnemanz, mellifluous where John Tomlinson (my previous best Gurnemanz) was rough-hewn. I was delighted to see and hear Robert Lloyd still in great voice - I wish I could remember exactly when I first heard him at the ROH, but what a great singer he is. Gerald Finley was indeed compelling, Simon O'Neill sounded the part even if he did not look it.....

Altogether - and bearing in mind our own Gurnemanz's wise words about the opera - a great night. I thought Pappano had the measure of it, though there were moments during the Prelude and Act 1 when I thought the pacing a fraction slow. I expect that, as with Haitink's Rings, his performances will grow during the run.

[Dave2002]

It's been a couple of years since I've been to the ROH. I paid a reasonable price (well, affordable anyway - let's not go into value judgements and morality ...) for a ticket to see Cosi fan Tutte. I've just been asked about Parsifal - but on checking most of the available tickets seem to be £190 or more. Is this something which is impossible to get in to for a lesser sum?

[LHC]

It's been a couple of years since I've been to the ROH. I paid a reasonable price (well, affordable anyway - let's not go into value judgements and morality ...) for a ticket to see Cosi fan Tutte. I've just been asked about Parsifal - but on checking most of the available tickets seem to be £190 or more. Is this something which is impossible to get in to for a lesser sum?

As tickets went on sale several months ago, all the cheaper tickets would have sold out some time ago. Looking at the website, there are very few tickets available at any price.

If you do want to go, you could try queuing for day tickets. There are 57 seats that go on sale at 10 am on the day of the performance. These are usually very reasonably priced.

[Richard Tarleton]

It's been a couple of years since I've been to the ROH. I paid a reasonable price (well, affordable anyway - let's not go into value judgements and morality ...) for a ticket to see Cosi fan Tutte. I've just been asked about Parsifal - but on checking most of the available tickets seem to be £190 or more. Is this something which is impossible to get in to for a lesser sum?

We paid £57 each for our seats in mid-amphitheatre - clear view of stage, excellent acoustically - we paid about the same, and sat in the same place, for the Ring, Meistersinger, in fact that's about what we always pay...my friend is a Friend (not the most expensive sort) and so is able to get some sort of advance booking. The cost compares very favourably with just about anything else one might see in the West End or anywhere else.

[Richard Tarleton]

I've been listening to Parsifal for about the same time (since 1971) and strangely enough have never actually wondered what it is 'about'! It just is.

Though if one does want to delve a bit further, a good starting point might be the Parsifal chapter in Ernest Newman's "Wagner Nights", in which among other things he explores Wagner's sources for the story (which Wagner toyed with for 30 years) and the Grail legend. Also Bryan Magee's "Wagner and Philosophy" in which he explains how some sort of understanding of Schopenhauer is essential to an understanding of the opera, and how Wagner drew on Buddhist and Christian sources alike.

[gurnemanz]

Thanks for pointing to Magee's book. My mind wanders back to undergraduate days we studied Schopenhauer and also Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic poem 'Parzival' in the original tricky to read Middle High German. Maybe I need to refresh my familiarity with them. I often look at Newman and use a tiny Reclam book for the libretto, which I can take along to concert performances.

Grauniad raves - "sublime performance"

[ostuni]

Thanks, Richard, for this very full and helpful review. On Denoke's Kundry, one of the comments after the Guardian review also found her Act 2 unsatisfactory - but reactions to singers' live performances are always very subjective - and influenced by what one sees, as well as by sheer vocal sound. I remember being utterly convinced by John Tomlinson's Gurnemanz, both at the Proms this summer, and at ENO a couple of years ago, but I know that several others reacted very differently.

Kundry's Act 2 music is extraordinarily demanding. For me, Dalayman in that otherwise wonderfully sung Met performance (heard in the cinema) was a bit of a let-down - although she convinced me a lot more when heard live at that Proms performance.

[gurnemanz]

We paid £57 each for our seats in mid-amphitheatre - clear view of stage, excellent acoustically - we paid about the same, and sat in the same place, for the Ring, Meistersinger, in fact that's about what we always pay...my friend is a Friend (not the most expensive sort) and so is able to get some sort of advance booking. The cost compares very favourably with just about anything else one might see in the West End or anywhere else.

My sister has priority booking and got the tickets for us. We are in Row N Amphitheatre (£46), slightly further back than we normally like be (according to Richard T above we might miss out on Klingsor's castration).

[Quarky]

As mentioned above, my local Odeon cinema is showing Parsifal over the Xmas period. It may not have the kudos of ROH, queuing up with teeny boppers and mums and dads, but the pop corn is certainly cheaper!

"A new production of 'Parsifal', Wagner's huge, profound meditation on guilt, death and possible redemption, is always a remarkable event. This one, directed by Stephen Langridge, designed by Alison Chitty and conducted by Antonio Pappano, the creative team who brought Birtwistle's brutal, beautiful Minotaur to the stage, is especially exciting.

An extraordinary cast of Wagnerian singers come together: Heldentenor Simon O'Neill, recently acclaimed for his Siegmund, sings Parsifal; the magnificent bass René Pape is Gurnemanz; Gerald Finley makes his role debut as Amfortas after a wonderful Hans Sachs at Glyndebourne, Willard White sings the sorcerer Klingsor, and versatile singer-actress Angela Denoke is an intriguing choice for Kundry