BaL 14.12.13 - Wagner's Parsifal

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.05 - 9.50: Wagner 200 Building a Library: David Nice with a personal recommendation for Wagner's final opera, Parsifal

Available recordings:-

Deutschen Staatsoper, Daniel Barenboim (DVD & 2 CD versions)
Bayreuth Festival, Pierre Boulez
La Scala, Andre Cluytens
Marlinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery Gergiev
WNO, Sir Reginald Goodall
RAI Rome, Vittorio Gui
Orchestra symphonique de la Mannale, Hartmut Haenchen (DVD)
Zurich Opera, Bernard Haitink (DVD)
Rundfunk Berlin, Marek Janowski
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro della RAI, Eugene Jochum
Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Monte Carlo PO, Armin Jordan
Berlin German Opera, Herbert von Karajan
Vienna State Opera/VPO, Herbert von Karajan
Rundfunk Leipzig, Herbert Kegel
Covent Garden Opera, Rudolf Kempe
Bayreuth Festival, Hans Knappertsbusch (1951, 1952, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 & 1964)
Bayreuth Festival, Clemens Krauss
BRSO, Rafael Kubelik
Tyrolean Festival, Gustav Kuhn
Metropolitan Opera, Erich Leinsdorf
Wurttemberg Staatsoper, Ferdinand Leitner
Bayreuth Festival, James Levine
Metropolitan Opera, James Levine (DVD)
Metropolitan Opera, James Levine (download)
Berlin State Opera, Karl Muck
Deutsches Symphony Orchester Berlin, Kent Nagano (DVD/Blu-ray)
Teatro La Fenice Venice, Gabor Otvos (DVD & CD)
Bayreuth Festival, Giuseppe Sinopoli (DVD)
VPO, Sir Georg Solti
Bayreuth Festival, Horst Stein (DVD)
Metropolitan Opera, Fritz Stiedry
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann (DVD/Blu-ray)
VPO, Christian Thielemann
Netherlands Radio PO, Jaap van Zweden

[vinteuil]

... many thanks, Alpensinf: - another impossible task for the reviewer - esp in the 45 mins or so allowed!

[Madame Suggia]

Great list Alp.

I have the 1962 Knappertsbusch on CD and the Horst Stein DVD

[Thropplenoggin]

A BaL I'll be glued to, especially as I'll be seeing it live four days later (well, through binoculars). It merits two hours at least.

'Kna', 1951.
'Kna', 1962.

He just brings out that numinous shimmering quality better than anyone else.

Best studio recording? Kubelik. Pricey even now, unfairly shelved to let Karajan hog the limelight, but great singers (Kurt Moll, James King, Yvonne Minton). My introduction to the work was Solti - still sounds great, too.

--

EA: here's a recent(ish) one you missed: Jaap van Zweden/Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. (Challenge Classics)

[Petrushka]

Solti and BPO/Karajan for me but a Parsifal library without one Knappertsbusch recording is unthinkable and I've only heard 1951 and 1962. The latter has some obtrusive audience noise to contend with at the start but you soon forget that. In it's favour is that fact that it's in stereo and captures well the Bayreuth acoustic.

Pushed for one version, I'd go for Solti.

[hedgehog]

Isn't the François Girard's new production at the Met, conducted by Daniele Gatti with Jonas Kaufmann, Katarina Dalayman, and René Pape due to be released early next year though? Would have been nice to have that on the list as well for comparison.

[BBMmk2]

Surely with exceptions such as this, CD Review should extend to an hour at least for a BaL?

[verismissimo]

This is the truth: as a confirmed Wagnerite, I've been scrabbling at the North Face of this work for decades, but never really connected. I've seen it a couple of times - long ago - and have four complete recordings (Knappertsbusch 1951, Goodall 1971, Karajan 1981 and Levine 1985). I'm going to spend Advent listening to them (again). With Nice's BaL as a centrepiece!

Maybe this time...

[amateur51]

This is the truth: as a confirmed Wagnerite, I've been scrabbling at the North Face of this work for decades, but never really connected. I've seen it a couple of times - long ago - and have four complete recordings (Knappertsbusch 1951, Goodall 1971, Karajan 1981 and Levine 1985). I'm going to spend Advent listening to them (again). With Nice's BaL as a centrepiece!

Maybe this time...

I admire your commitment verismissimo

[gurnemanz]

Great list Alp.

I have the 1962 Knappertsbusch on CD and the Horst Stein DVD

I have the Kna 62 on 5LPs (may be due an upgrade) also Kna 51 on CD
Kegel/Kollo Leipzig Radio (I was there - in the audience, not singing)
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg film (DVD) - Armin Jordan
Nagano Blu-ray
Muck 1928 (with original Bayreuth bells which the Nazis melted down for the war effort)
Wot no Callas! Gui in Italian??? OK, it's hardly a main contender. Not mentioned above but worth a listen

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Van Zweden and Gui versions added, as requested, plus 2 more by Kna...

[LeMartinPecheur]

Perhaps we should offer a seasonal prize for the boarder who can post the largest number of complete performances in his/her possession?

Just to make it a teenzy bit harder, I do feel - with due thanks for EA's noble efforts - that we should be given full cast lists (first and second names, birth and death dates, inside leg measurements, etc) for all performers, right down to Vierte Knappe

PS I'm not in the running here, having only recently bought my very first - Solti. But only because it was cheap, you understand Might even get round to playing it over the festive season? Nah, probly not - visitors

[verismissimo]

... right down to Vierte Nappe

Shouldn't that be Vierte Knappe, LMP?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Shouldn't that be Vierte Knappe, LMP?

Ooops, duly corrected.

[slarty]

what about Goodall's 1971 live performance at CG issued on the CG Heritage label?