Wagner - Parsifal
by Horst Stein
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DVD details
Actor: Bernd Weikl, Eva Randova, Hans Sotin, Leif Roar, Siegfried JerusalemDirector: Horst Stein
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); German (Original Language), DTS 5.1; Chinese (Dubbed); English (Dubbed); French (Dubbed); German (Dubbed), DTS 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 232 minutes
Published: 2011-10-24
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-11
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
DVD Reviews of Wagner - Parsifal
DVD Review: Close to definitive.
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally the quest for the holy grail is over: A performance/production of Parsifal on Dvd that is really worth investing in and really helps you appreciate that in fact Parsifal IS a great opera. Whereas the 1951-1964 staging of Wieland Wagner at Bayreuth is regarded by many as the best of the post-war Parsifal productions (at least from Bayreuth), this production on dvd is probably the best you will ever get to see. This is more the case now that Bayreuth itself is being used as a publicity centre for young opera-hating stage designers who wish to forge a career in film via generating the absolute maximum of notoriety they can muster through their perverted productions.
My knowledge of Parsifal is limited to the Nagano Dvd and the Levine/New York Met production (similar to the first reviewer here). I have a few recordings on cd(Von Karajan, Knappertsbusch (1962), Levine) and have witnessed a few live productions including recently the abomination that is the anti-Wagner 2004 Bayreuth production. I can say that, regarding dvds, whereas the Nagano production suffers from: a) conducting that seems to me to lack feeling and, b) from being another silly modern stage, and while the Levine production is: a) sluggish with unimaginative tempi and, b) lacking in dramatic effect, this Bayreuth version is conducted with pace by Stein but is nevertheless replete with ethereal atmospheric effect induced by a really effective layering of the score, the staging is perfect - not cluttered, but scenic and in fact beautiful - and individual performances in terms of singing and acting are really first rate.
Ultimately this recording illustrates how fundamental it is to adhere, at least to a reasonable degree, to Wagner's stage instructions to maximize not only dramatic effect but, I believe, also to bring out the sheer beauty of the music. Stein, backed by an excellent orchestra, conducts well for sure but the fact that there is real synthesis between music and drama - the gesamtkunstwerk of which Wagner extolled - really does serve to facilitate both: the music seems more apt and imbued with significance, the drama simultaneously drives and is driven by the music. The music and the drama make sense when harmonized in this manner - a far cry from many, if not most modern stagings, such as a recent live production I saw that was set in an institution for the mentally ill; in what way is the noble, mystical music of the knights befitting of a congregation of nutters in a loony bin!?!?! Ridiculous!
I have to say I hate modern productions and they are potentially killing off new generations of would-be Wagner enthusiasts. The difference in effect on a Wagner neophyte seeing this Bayreuth production as compared to seeing one of the dodgy modern translations would be palpable - it is essentially the difference between rendering the opera quasi transcendental and rendering it an absurdity. That modern stagers think they can outdo the work of a genius who made it his life-time obsession to perfect every last detail of his mature opera works is in itself absurd! Wieland Wagner is perhaps singled out as the stage director who most appropriately deviated from Wagner's and Bruckner's original stage design to produce something more minimalistic - arguably appropriate - and this staging might be regarded as a compromise of the two approaches. Not that the magic of a Bayreuth staging is impermeable to the contaminating filth induced by the egos and self-publicizing anti-Wagnerism of modern designers in the form of unsophisticated kitsch. The present Bayreuth production offers a post-apocalyptic setting that shows Klingsor, at the end of act 2, rather than being defeated by Parsifal, aiding Parsifal in killing Kundry with the sacred spear and then escaping in a spaceship to reappear in act 3 - Parsifal then basically kills everyone including himself at the end of act 3!
Now for some details:
As I have mentioned the staging is excellent and the dramaturgy pretty much faultless throughout.
Siegfried Jerusalem is absolutely excellent as Parsifal here. He is about 12 years younger than in the Levine/Met Opera Dvd version which I think makes all the difference since we must assume that 'der reine tor' is not a man well into his fifties. Furthermore, he seems to be vocally at his peak here; his voice is powerful and perfectly nuanced and controlled. His acting is appropriate for Parsifal who must come over as being naive but not an imbecile (by contrast I have seen Jerusalem play Siegfried, a character not dissimilar to Parsifal in many ways, as an imbecile in Dvd versions of Siegfried and Gotterdammerung).
Sotin as Gurnemanz and Weikl as Amfortas are also perfect both in terms of singing and acting. Sotin is much subtler than, for example, Kurt Moll in the Met production whose 'acting' appears to revolve around glancing at the conductor every five seconds for guidance. As Amfortas Weikl looks and plays the part and his interaction with the Knights in the two grail scenes has a real visceral edge to it lacking in other productions.
Randova as Kundry, for the most part, is also excellent. I would agree with the first reviewer here that her voice is perhaps insufficiently sweet to be convincingly seductive in Act 2. This is something of a fault and lacks the power of Waltraud Meier's performance in the Levine Dvd. You can understand Parsifal's struggle to remain 'pure' when confronted with the lyrical and visual treat of Meier but not quite so much with Randova although she is not exactly weak in this respect. The flower-maiden scene is done so well that this somewhat compensates for the relative lack of 'seduction effect'. Randova is very good, however, as the wretched alter-ego of Kundry, her screams of anguish seem pertinent rather than melodramatic.
Some small gripes. In the final scene Kundry is supposed to fall 'lifeless to the ground' - this does not happen here and I think it is a fault albeit not a debilitating one. The beam of light, used in other productions, that should fall on the grail when in the office of Parisfal is also lacking which I think somewhat detracts from dramatic effect and the significance of the work.
I can live with these omissions as I can with Randova's less than particularly seductive voice in the 2nd act because everything else is spot on.
So, in a nutshell, if you want a more or less traditional Wagner rendition of Parsifal that synthesizes music and drama as facilitated by truly excellent acting and singing engendering perfectly the atmospheric effect I believe Wagner would have wanted, then you MUST buy this. It is Wagner's gesamtkunstwerk at about as high a degree as you are likely to see - probably on dvd or any performance live now that the evil Wagner hating modernist stagers have saturated the opera world.
Description of Wagner - Parsifal
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