Parsifal

[DoctorT]

Looking for help from all Wagnerians. Recommended CDs of Parsifal, sadly missing from my collection. Preferably in stereo (I think the classic Kna is in mono?).

Thanks in advance

[Ein Heldenleben]

I’ve got Karajan and Goodall - perfectly happy with both. Not just fine performances but also excellent recordings.

[Pulcinella]

Here's a link to those recordings listed on Presto's site which have been given an award: they might be a starting point to consider (there are often short reviews).

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/59570--wagner-parsifal/browse?award_winner=true&size=10&view=large&sort=relevance

[Petrushka]

The classic 1962 Bayreuth Knappertsbusch is in stereo and should be in any Parsifal collection. However, if sound quality is an important factor I'd recommend Karajan or Solti. Both are in very fine sound and have excellent casts.

[gradus]

Boulez was and remains my guide to this wonderful piece but I love it in anyone's hands.

[gurnemanz]

The classic 1962 Bayreuth Knappertsbusch is in stereo and should be in any Parsifal collection. However, if sound quality is an important factor I'd recommend Karajan or Solti. Both are in very fine sound and have excellent casts.

That Knappertsbusch on a box of LPs was how I got to know Parsifal decades ago as a student. Then, in 1972 I stood for the Boulez Prom - over two nights. I have a soft spot for Kegel, recommendable anyway with René Kollo in the title role and a fluent, lucid Ulrik Cold as Gurnemanz, but also because I attended that very performance in Leipzig in 1975. Kegel delivers the fastest uncut Parsifal on record at 3hrs 40. Now seems to be download only but cheap at Presto.

The excellent Kollo is there for Solti/VPO 1971 which is certainly a strong recommendation with a star cast including Fischer-Dieskau as Amfortas, the mighty Gottlob Frick as Gurnemanz, Christa Ludwig as Kundry, Hans Hotter doing a turn as Titurel and even Kiri Te Kanawa as a Flower Maiden. Surprisingly, only download now.

Availability is also a problem for the very highly regarded Kubelik, recorded in 1980 but blocked due to contractual problems, I snapped it up when it finally appeared on CD in 2008. Now seems to have disappeared completely but is there as separate acts are on YouTube and worth seeking out.

I watched the 2021 Philippe Jordan Vienna State Opera performance via satellite TV - riveting show with Jonas Kaufmann as Parsifal and Elina Garanca spellbinding in her debut as Kundry (a role she went on to repeat at Bayreuth), also Ludovic Tézier as Amfortas, and Georg Zeppenfeld, along with René Pape, the go-to Gurnemanz de nos jours. Director Kirill Serebrennikov has Garanca's Kundry as a journalist visiting a detention centre for criminals (somewhere in Russia presumably). Multi award-winning and available on CD - I went for the very well-priced download option. (The only time we have attended a live cinema opera broadcast was Kaufmann's equally impressive Met performance a few years ago, DVD available).

PS. I have one DVD version: Kent Nagano live Festpielhaus Baden-Baden 2004. Waltraud Meier compelling as Kundry.
Most Parsifal fans also get Syberberg's idiosyncratic but unmissable filmed version.

[smittims]

Of no practical use to Doctor T, of course , but I always regret the absence of a Toscanini or Furtwangler recording. Toscanini conducted the 1930 (or '31) Bayreuth staging, but sadly didn't schedule it in New York where nearly all his NBC concerts were recorded. Furtwangler may or may not have liked it. But I wish HMV had persuaded him to record it in Vienna in 1954 instead of Die Walkure.

My favourite Parsifal is the 1951 Decca with Wolfgang Windgassen, George London, Martha Modl and Ludwig Weber as Gurnemanz.

postscript: I've since read that Furtwangler conducted a staging at Milan in 1951. That seems to have been a missed opportunity in the light of his famous 1950 Ring there. .

[LHC]

That Knappertsbusch on a box of LPs was how I got to know Parsifal decades ago as a student. Then, in 1972 I stood for the Boulez Prom - over two nights. I have a soft spot for Kegel, recommendable anyway with René Kollo in the title role and a fluent, lucid Ulrik Cold as Gurnemanz, but also because I attended that very performance in Leipzig in 1975. Kegel delivers the fastest uncut Parsifal on record at 3hrs 40. Now seems to be download only but cheap at Presto.

The excellent Kollo is there for Solti/VPO 1971 which is certainly a strong recommendation with a star cast including Fischer-Dieskau as Amfortas, the mighty Gottlob Frick as Gurnemanz, Christa Ludwig as Kundry, Hans Hotter doing a turn as Titurel and even Kiri Te Kanawa as a Flower Maiden. Surprisingly, only download now.

Availability is also a problem for the very highly regarded Kubelik, recorded in 1980 but blocked due to contractual problems, I snapped it up when it finally appeared on CD in 2008. Now seems to have disappeared completely but is there as separate acts are on YouTube and worth seeking out.

I watched the 2021 Philippe Jordan Vienna State Opera performance via satellite TV - riveting show with Jonas Kaufmann as Parsifal and Elina Garanca spellbinding in her debut as Kundry (a role she went on to repeat at Bayreuth), also Ludovic Tézier as Amfortas, and Georg Zeppenfeld, along with René Pape, the go-to Gurnemanz de nos jours. Director Kirill Serebrennikov has Garanca's Kundry as a journalist visiting a detention centre for criminals (somewhere in Russia presumably). Multi award-winning and available on CD - I went for the very well-priced download option. (The only time we have attended a live cinema opera broadcast was Kaufmann's equally impressive Met performance a few years ago, DVD available).

PS. I have one DVD version: Kent Nagano live Festpielhaus Baden-Baden 2004. Waltraud Meier compelling as Kundry.
Most Parsifal fans also get Syberberg's idiosyncratic but unmissable filmed version.

With regard to the Vienna performance of Parsifal under Philippe Jordan, I believe most of the singers hated the production and found it very difficult to rehearse with Kirill Serebrennikov as he was under house arrest in Russia and was only able to gave his instructions to them over ZOOM.

Kaufmann has since said he thought it was probably for the best that the performance was released on CD rather than DVD/Blu ray so that the musical performance could be appreciated without the distraction of the idiosyncratic staging.

I have a recording of the production on DVD taken from the Vienna State Opera stream, and also a copy of the CD release, which is very good indeed.

Although it is a recording of a live performance, there was no audience present as it was recorded during the Covid lock down (so no audience noise). Indeed, I think this cast only performed it once in the Staatsoper for the video and audio recording, with all the other performances being cancelled as a result of the closure of the Staatsoper for the period of lock down.

[DoctorT]

Thanks everyone. Has anyone any thoughts on the Barenboim recording (good value on Warner Classics)?

[LHC]

Thanks everyone. Has anyone any thoughts on the Barenboim recording (good value on Warner Classics)?

I think its very good with a mainly outstanding cast. Barenboim's conducting is excellent and the Berlin Phil play superbly. Siegfried Jerusalem, Waltraud Meier and Jose van Dam are all very good as well. The only disappointment is Matthias Holle as Gurnemanz who is a bit dull and plain in comparison with the other singers on the set and with the best Gurnemanzes on other recordings. He sings well enough and doesn't really do anything wrong, but he doesn't bring the part to life in the way the best performers can. The recorded sound is also very good.

If the price is right, its certainly a recommendable set.