Parsifal (ROH)

[DracoM]

The normally scrupulously even-handed Mr Handley managed to sound both upbeat, ask questions very well, but baffled.

And, RT, I deffo don't get how the performance of cleansing or whatever leaves the knights with nowt to contemplate and yet happy to be thus 'saved' or whatever. The presumption is that what has held them together for generations or more has been a lie that has lured them into violence or indolence and spiritual apathy etc, and that now, thanks to Amfortas and Parsifal, they are redeemed by being cleansed from all that superstitious stuff of 'the Grail'. I mean you start getting into weird areas like with naked boy as their core focus i.e the Grail thatTiturel and the Knights constantly urge Amfortas to unveil, the Grail Knights are cleansed of their core, corrupt religion - paedophilia - by the arrival of a real man in Parsifal? Erm........??

Was the Grail 'boy' at the end older because of ROH rules on children and performance hours directives.............

You see? If you introduce such a potent and startlingly specific Grail image, you immediately shift the entire focus of the opera and thus 'message' into all manner of wild and unknown regions. Phew!

[Oliver]

The description of this production and the photos I've seen suggest that it's another case of The Emperor's New clothes; a visual undermining of both text and music.
Any explanation for the bells, by the way? I know what Wagner wanted and what the music and text tell us, but what does the producer provide? and if there is no Holy Communion, what was enacted on the stage? This adolescent desire to avoid the Christian imagery bewilders me; Wagner was no Christian (nor did he believe that there was a god called Wotan) using religious imagery to his own ends. So why the fear?

I'll stick to concert performances after the last four productions I saw (two at ENO, two at ROH), left me irritated beyond measure. And I never even considered buying a seat for this latest travesty knowing full well what lay in store. Nevertheless, I enjoyed last night's broadcast (well, most of it) and in my mind's eye was able to see Montsalvat, just as the music and text evoked it.

[Richard Tarleton]

And, RT, I deffo don't get how the performance of cleansing or whatever leaves the knights with nowt to contemplate and yet happy to be thus 'saved' or whatever. The presumption is that what has held them together for generations or more has been a lie that has lured them into violence or indolence and spiritual apathy etc, and that now, thanks to Amfortas and Parsifal, they are redeemed by being cleansed from all that superstitious stuff of 'the Grail'. I mean you start getting into weird areas like with naked boy as their core focus i.e the Grail thatTiturel and the Knights constantly urge Amfortas to unveil, the Grail Knights are cleansed of their core, corrupt religion - paedophilia - by the arrival of a real man in Parsifal? Erm........??

Was the Grail 'boy' at the end older because of ROH rules on children and performance hours directives.............

You see? If you introduce such a potent and startlingly specific Grail image, you immediately shift the entire focus of the opera and thus 'message' into all manner of wild and unknown regions. Phew!

Indeed, this production created more problems for itself and asked more questions than it solved, in my view - I did wonder what happened to the boy between ceremonies, where was he kept, that sort of thing. I presumed the older boy was meant to be the same boy but drawing attention to the length of time Parsifal had been away.....Acc. to (I think) Hugh Canning, it's not the first time the Grail has been a boy.....And there was no dove....On stage Kundry almost seemed to be apologising to Amfortas for everything at the end, before they went off together; the stage directions definitely have her sinking lifeless to the ground.

My first Parsifal was a concert performance, and I think like Oliver I'll stick to those from now on and let my imagination do the rest. I don't think I'll be seeing this production in my mind's eye when I listen at home, any more than the ENO one. I enjoyed the evening on its own terms, but the more you think about it afterwards the less satisfactory it seems.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

About the only things Hugh Canning liked were the orchestra and Pappano - but an interesting review in the ST. I like his comment [I think short quotes are permissible, no?]

My favourite line comes with his pithy sign-off, is clearly directed at the likes of Peter Katona, head of (mis)casting at the ROH:

'There are far better Parsifals and Kundrys around, and it’s disturbing that the Royal Opera either doesn’t seem to know who they are, or was too slow off the mark to secure their services for this supposedly prestigious production in the Wagner bicentenary year.'

[Richard Tarleton]

My favourite line comes with his pithy sign-off, is clearly directed at the likes of Peter Katona, head of (mis)casting at the ROH:

'There are far better Parsifals and Kundrys around, and it’s disturbing that the Royal Opera either doesn’t seem to know who they are, or was too slow off the mark to secure their services for this supposedly prestigious production in the Wagner bicentenary year.'

Yes. Much the same can be said about their Siegfrieds and Brunhildes in recent times?

[DracoM]

My first Parsifal was Goodall - fell asleep but fine stuff.

Second was Bayreuth mid-70's. Design spot on, orchestra sublime. Amazing experience. But more and more I come back to Solti's recording and the totally right, self-effacing Rene Kollo's bleached out, weltschmerz-informed Act 3 Parsifal. PLus fantastic playing and a heavenly chorus you could never get / engineer in the opera house. Yes, Gurnemanz is the amazingly doddery sounding Gottlob Frick, but somehow even that was right. Wasn't he well into his 70's when he recorded it?
In between, I have actually been to Montsalvat outside Barcelona, and that really IS where one can imagine all this taking place - grand 'theatre', fabulous, and highly atmospheric scenery [ walked round it for hours on a dreech autumn day], monastic community and utterly removed from anything below.

And the concert performances.

The more I think about the implications inherent in the production pix, the more I agree with Richard Tarleton that this production actively seem to set out to create a whole swathe of ideological / visual problems for itself that got in the way of the work, imposed a very, very particular view on those in the opera house. And in fact, listening on R3, Rene Pape apart, I really did not think this was either terribly well sung or played. The ROH band have and do play a heck of a lot better than this. It really did sound as if Pappano was out of his depth. How dare I say that!!!

[gurnemanz]

Interesting to read completely contradictory views on ROH Parsifal. E.g. Pappano either "musical performance of exceptional sensitivity" (FT five stars) or "out of his depth (above). I'd like to read Hugh Canning referred to above but won't pay on principle to penetrate Murdoch's paywall. I went to the Times site where we are allowed to read only the first few lines (which struck me as idiotic.)

I deliberately didn't listen the other night, preferring to wait till we see it on Sunday.

[DracoM]

Hey, I said 'AS IF he was out of his depth'. I did not say he WAS out of his depth. Pappano is a very fine musician.
That Act 3 FOR ME just did not have any sense of dynamism or of a climax sought and found. I was bewildered and thrashing about trying to find out why I was so underwhelmed. And to be honest I'm still wondering.

[underthecountertenor]

Keep wondering, but perhaps from now on keep it to yourself?

[Vile Consort]

Like Oliver above, I cannot imagine myself ever attending a staged opera again. It's a pity, because an opera is more than just a piece of music. However, I am afraid that the current ludicrous productions result in something far less than just a piece of music.

Roll on historically-informed performance practice coming to opera!

[grandchant]

Well, how about this. The boy represents Parsifal in his 'guileless fool' state as he is in act 1 (child-like innocence and all that). He appears as the grail because he has replaced the grail as the community's raison d'etre; they need Amfortas cured to succeed Titurel as a worthy grail king - Titurel can't resign himself to death for that reason. In the last act Parsifal has been transformed through the knowledge gained from Kundry, and the community has it's cure, nothing more is needed.

The Bayreuth production first seen I think in either 2006 or 2008 shows the birth of Parsifal who is then apparently sacrificed as a baby in the first grail scene, so it's all old hat really.

[gurnemanz]

Like Oliver above, I cannot imagine myself ever attending a staged opera again. It's a pity, because an opera is more than just a piece of music. However, I am afraid that the current ludicrous productions result in something far less than just a piece of music.

Roll on historically-informed performance practice coming to opera!

I'm afraid I can't identify with or indeed make much sense of the above comments. When I was younger and had no money, I did not go to the opera because I couldn't afford it and just listened on the radio or borrowed LPs from the record library (eg Solti Ring). Later, with children and a mortgage, we were also hardly ever able to attend live opera. I only started going to the opera on a regular basis about 10 years ago, in my mid 50s. I am retired now and we can afford to go as often as we like. I have lapped it up and absolutely love it nearly all the time, regretting only that I didn't manage to attend more in my early life. I'm catching up for lost years. For me, whether a performance is worthwhile or not has little to do with it being a "current ludicrous current production" (???) or not. I like orthodox, traditional stagings and I also like to be challenged and to be given new angles on familiar works. Above all, I like to hear good singing and orchestral playing coupled with drama, acting, choreography, stage effects, scenery etc in a live setting surrounded by other human beings who are sharing the same experience.

The rallying cry for "historically-informed performance practice" (ugly phrase) does not inspire or enthuse me at all.

[Vile Consort]

You might at least quote me accurately, rather than introducing grammatical errors and then drawing attention to the resulting nonsense as if it were I who had written it.

[Prommer]

Well, Bert, to my ears the applause at the end of Act 1 was chasteningly perfunctory and rather reflected my own underwhelm. Maybe some at ROH did not clap because at Bayreuth one doesn't?

Well, I think this might be true. I don't applaud at the end of Act I - and when I went to the dress rehearsal at CG recently, others refrained also. At Bayreuth I can tell you that much the same obtains these days - an extended silence and then a smattering from those who clearly think 'rude not to' [show some appreciation]. What I DON'T approve of (and at Bayreuth this does happen) is people who wish to applaud being loudly 'shushed'.

[Belgrove]

I saw this on Sunday and have been thinking on it since, for it deserves a considered rather than knee-jerk response. My apologies for the length. I have seen Parsifal at the ROH in three incarnations prior to this, and this is the most profound, beautiful and sophisticated of these, and it is a failure. Expect more contradictions in what follows.

There are two instances of inadequate casting. Denoke did not meet the vocal challenges of Kundry, in act 2 providing little more than an approximation of what is required. O'Neill did meet his challenges, but (and I am sorry to say this) through his very size looked preposterous. Poor Kundry looked the more scared of the two during act 2, terrified of being squashed. A total undermining of the drama. Rene Pape sang beautifully, tirelessly, remarkably quietly, with precision and authority, but with no dramatic impact at all. Willard White gave a beautifully sung villain, but was not especially villainous. Most successful of the principals was Gerald Finley's Amfortas, beautifully sung and well acted, harrowing to witness.

It was clear that Pappano had rehearsed the orchestra meticulously to the extent that the pit layout was reconfigured to soften the impact of percussion and brass. The result thus cultivated was a gorgeous, soft grained melisma of sound, that conjured the merging and separating clouds that Wagner sought. The cost of such beauty was an unvarying tempo that unfolded on a glacial timescale. He provided a microscopic analysis of the score's individual effects without seeming to understand that they need to be joined up. As before, Pappano just does not see Wagner's enormous spans and fails to make a dramatic sense of the music. There was no connection between pit and stage, other than providing the cues. I have seen Pappano now do all the mature works of Wagner, he was only adequate in Meistersinger, the least Wagnerian of the late works - I'll not be seeing him conduct Wagner again. And yet, despite all this, the closing of act 3 was simply ravishing (surely the inspiration for Holst's Neptune?)

This is a blood saturated drama. The programme is lavishly illustrated with works of Francis Bacon, which provides a visual leitmotif of the production seen from the outset, where the shimmering blood red drop has a projection of (Kundry's) open mouth in a scream of agony and ecstasy. It is pursued further with a cubic structure that serves as hospital for Amfortas, portal for scenes of times past, the holy of holies containing The Grail, Kundry's crimson bed of joy, ..., and recalls the cages in which Bacon's agonised, tortured screaming subjects are confined. This cube is itself contained, alluding to the endless regression of similar events and actions that were sparked by Kundry's original sin at the crucifixion (the critical '... und lachte...' being fluffed by Denoke). We are seeing pain being repeated through millennial time. The Grail knights are literally Hospitallers, tending to Amfortas (through the ages?) whilst dispatching shock-troops on undercover missions.

Parsifal asks 'Who is The Grail...', not 'what?', and is lead blindfolded (with a liturgical stole) to the answer. In act 1 this is a boy, who is ritually wounded by Amfortas in the same place as his own shameful injury, and then exhibited to the congregation, being borne as in the pieta. This is a most disturbing scene, that of an arcane ritual having become a horribly warped blood sacrifice, its original meaning lost, religion as rite alone. Act 1 of Parsifal is hard work because it is so static, yet this was utterly compelling despite the torpor of the conducting. Act 2, when the work erupts into unwholesome vileness, should have been sensational, it was not. No dangerously sexy flower maidens, no psychological dissection of Parsifal by Dr Kundry, no attempts at seduction. At the close Parsifal is actually blinded by Kundry in revenge for his chastity, and so again he must find Monsalvat in the dark.

In act 3 we have entered The Waste Land, decay is everywhere, and Amfortas its embodiment. Years have passed and The Grail is fleetingly glimpsed as a Christ-like man. When Parsifal relieves Amfortas of his burden and cures him, he then reveals The Grail - but the chamber is empty, like the first Easter. The Grail has become its quintessence, pure faith not a fetishistic object. Parsifal's destiny is fulfilled, he has nothing more to do and takes his leave of a society that can now flourish. Perfect! A resolution of hope, optimism and transformation. And yet this sophisticated and coherent synthesis of Christian and Buddhist theology was totally unmoving. Why? Because of inadequate execution of the concept.

How can such beauty and musical tastefulness be so unsatisfactory and hollow? I would love to think of this as a work in progress. If Act 2 could be made as intellectually cogent as the outer acts and restored of its alluring danger and horribleness, if it could be cast from strength, and were it to be conducted with an aim other than purveying sheer beauty alone, it could be one of most satisfying of Parsifal's. I remain sanguine.