Wagner - Parsifal

[Guest]

There are no reviews here..

http://tinyurl.com/6nxmaer

Does anyone here have a preferred recording, please?

Paul

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Knapertsbusch's 1950s Bayreuth recording on Naxos is a glorious performance. I have the NAXOS reissue which is very good and not expensive; but it is Mono sound (and there is a bit of "wow" at one point in the last Act).

Karajan's recording is another favourite of mine - one of his very best performances in superb sound.

Avoid Levine's Bayreuth recording: it drags cumbersomely. (Don't know his DG recording with Domingo and Norman - can't be any worse!)

[Beef Oven]

Knapertsbusch's 1950s Bayreuth recording on Naxos is a glorious performance. I have the NAXOS reissue which is very good and not expensive; but it is Mono sound (and there is a bit of "wow" at one point in the last Act).

Karajan's recording is another favourite of mine - one of his very best performances in superb sound.

Avoid Levine's Bayreuth recording: it drags cumbersomely. (Don't know his DG recording with Domingo and Norman - can't be any worse!)

Karajan is a great place to start. I would also recommend Kna's Live 1962 Bayreuth Performance (mine's on Phillips). I find Levine's DG recording with PD a bit to 'smooth'.

Here's a link to Kna's '62 on Phillips

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-6604/?search=1

Here's a link to Karajan on DG

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page...nther+Hermanns.

[umslopogaas]

Well ... for what its worth, and havent we been here before (?), my memory is getting ever more vague ... the several recordings by Knappertsbusch are classic, but Karajan and the BPO are/were available on CD and are definitive: DG 413 347-2 is the CD number for my copy, though I can give LP details for those interested in these things.

Details of the two Knappertsbusch LP recordings I own are available on request.

fhg, which Knappertsbusch recording from Bayreuth in the 1950s is the one you prefer? It seems he recorded it several times.

A friend of mine who knows more about this kind of thing than me once said that Knapperstbusch would have been a very fine conductor, if only he could be woken up.

[ostuni]

Kubelik, on Arts (1980) & Barenboim (Teldec, 1990) are the best of the more modern bunch; Barenboim's Gurnemanz is the dull Hölle, who rather spoils it for me. But his Kundry is the wonderful Waltraud Meier (though Kubelik's Yvonne Minton is almost as good). No Kundry outdoes Knappertsbusch's Mödl, on the 1951 set, which is much less sleepy than his 62 stereo one.

3 recordings have appeared in the last 3 years or so: Gergiev, van Zweden, and Janowski. All 3 have excellent sound, and mixed casting.

[Petrushka]

There are a bewildering number of Knappertsbusch/Bayreuth recordings of Parsifal out there and when I mentioned this in a precious Parsifal thread someone kindly listed them all - though I believe another has been added to the lists since then! I'm pretty sure that FHG is referring to the 1951 recording.

You simply must have one Knappertsbusch recording for the real Bayreuth experience. I have the 1962 set, slightly marred by audience noise maybe, bit at least it's in stereo with a wonderful cast. If you want a studio recording in great sound I would choose either Karajan or Solti. You won't go wrong with either.

[Parry1912]

I see that in the 2009 PG Thielemann's was the top recommendation ahead of Karajan, Barenboim and both the Kna recordings. Has anyone heard it?

Incidentally (and I'm almost afraid to mention it ) I see that Goodall's EMI recording can be had very reasonably. Is it any good?

[DracoM]

Don't ignore Solti. Whatever you think of his Ring / know of his reputation etc etc, his Parsifal is utterly, but utterly different.

Kollo is a very fine Parsifal, his Act 3 particularly - spiritually bleached and exhausted then rising to a quiet nobility , Frick as Gurnemanz is a genuine old man sounding like an old man but with true heft and charisma, Fischer-Dieskau as an angry, impassioned Amfortas, VPO in fine fettle, Vienna Boys Choir for the stratosphere.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm pretty sure that FHG is referring to the 1951 recording.

(The '62 Kna has a young Gundula Janowitz - - making her recording debut as one of the Flower Maidens.)

[umslopogaas]

Oh no! I now have to play through not one ancient recording of 'Parsifal', but several. And I've got a pile of Brahms, Beethoven, JSB and Bartok screaming for attention. Do you people know how long 'Parsifal' is? It takes until next tax demand just to get to the end of the Prelude, and you havent even met Gurnemanz yet ... and he does go on a bit.

But the entry into the castle of the Grail at the climax of Act I is just magic. If you dont know it, pour a very large drink, put it on the CD player and relax, this is real music.

[gurnemanz]

Oh no! I now have to play through not one ancient recording of 'Parsifal', but several. And I've got a pile of Brahms, Beethoven, JSB and Bartok screaming for attention. Do you people know how long 'Parsifal' is? It takes until next tax demand just to get to the end of the Prelude, and you havent even met Gurnemanz yet ... and he does go on a bit.

But the entry into the castle of the Grail at the climax of Act I is just magic. If you dont know it, pour a very large drink, put it on the CD player and relax, this is real music.

I have an odd relationship with Parsifal. I got the Knappertsbusch LPs as a student umpteen years ago and became somewhat obsessed with the opera, even meeting my own Kundry. I stood at the Proms for the Boulez version over two nights in the 70s with my little copy of the libretto in my hand - on my own because no one I knew would go with me, not even Kundry. A couple of years later I saw a concert version of it in Leipzig with René Kollo under Herbert Kegel which was terrific and to this day my only full CD version is a recording of that very performance.

I have the indispensable Karl Muck Naxos discs complete with the original bells that the Nazis melted down (http://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviews...&languageid=EN) and keep meaning to buy another full set but simply cannot decide which one, since none of them can be definitive. (I am genuinely up for a recommendation.) Despite my obsession, I'm still not quite sure what it's all about. I don't very often sit down of an evening and play it. We enjoyed the recent Gergiev performance at the Barbican.

I can't think why I decided to name myself here after a tedious old bloke who just goes on and on ......

[Mandryka]

For Parsifal, I would recommend Solti, Karajan and Kubelik, in that order.

If you are going to go for a Kna, make it the '51 mono recording: there are just too many things wrong with the stereo 'remake'.

And use the Karl Muck/Alfred Hertz excerpts as a historical supplement.

I have the Thielemann recording: it's good, but not essential, I'd say, and somewhat hobbled by an undistinguished Gurnemanz.

Not listened to the Goodall for a long time, but it does feature Waltraud Meier's first Kundry, so shoud be worth investigation.

[Beef Oven]

I see that in the 2009 PG Thielemann's was the top recommendation ahead of Karajan, Barenboim and both the Kna recordings. Has anyone heard it?

Incidentally (and I'm almost afraid to mention it ) I see that Goodall's EMI recording can be had very reasonably. Is it any good?

Steady on Parry!

The Goodall is many people's top performance (it's certainly mine) but probably not a good starting point. The Thielemann is excellent (I picked it up for £16 off Amazon, and not from the marketplace, a few years back) - Domingo is wonderful here. I also like the pacey Boulez! I have never heard the Kubelik.

[mathias broucek]

Agree with the accolades for Karajan and 1951 Kanappertsbusch (the latter v cheap on Classical Music Mobile although better transfers are available).

Has anyone heard THIS Karajan?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wagner-Parsifal-Richard/dp/B00000K4HP/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1336207364&sr=8-4

[Black Swan]

I have Karajan and Barenboim both are good, as mentioned there are some glitches but for me, an ardent Waltraud Meier fan, I go with Barenboim. I saw her live at the MET in New York as Kundry and have been smitten ever since.

John