Wagner - Parsifal / Levine, Weikl, Mazura, Metropolitan Opera
by Brian Large
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DVD details
Actor: Bernd Weikl, Franz Mazura, Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Kurt Moll, Siegfried JerusalemDirector: Brian Large
Writer: Richard Wagner
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Unknown); English (Subtitled); German (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 264 minutes
Published: 2011-10-24
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
DVD Reviews of Wagner - Parsifal / Levine, Weikl, Mazura, Metropolitan Opera
DVD Review: A tremendous experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Levine's 1993 Met performance and Horst Stein's 1981 audience-free Bayreuth production are the only traditional "Parsifals" on DVD, so a comparison seems in order. The Bayreuth "Parsifal" has very fine singing but is marred by less than involved acting and occasional weak production touches by Wolfgang Wagner. The singing at the Met is just as good, and Otto Schenk's production is far better. The Met scores in terms of scenery, staging and acting. There is a magic in New York that is not there in Bayreuth, which has a more plain, homespun quality, attractive in its own way (similar in that regard to Wolfgang Wagner's "Bayreuth "Meistersinger.").
Schenk's handling of characters is just more involving and inviting. Here are seemingly real people facing important issues. Wolfgang Wagner's sense of stage acting comes basically from the stand and deliver school, lacking much compelling interaction between characters to bring the drama to life. The drama here is not exactly gripping; static is more like it.
On its own, the Bayreuth forest that opens acts 1 and 3 is fine, but next to the Met's grand and realistic outdoors, feels a bit cramped and artificial after a while. Bayreuth's second scene of both acts (the hall of the castle of the grail), a la his brother Wieland's 1951-75 production, is abstract yet compelling, too, in its own way. But the Met has a more spiritual setting and a more deeply affecting result.
Act 2 starts out in Bayreuth with Klingsor's castle looking like a cheap science fiction B-movie scene with cheesy-looking smoke, abstract curved pillars on the side and Klingsor dominating from above like a tacky evil superhero. Unconvincing. Laughable even. Sad when Leif Roar is a most compelling Klingsor, full of menace and in vibrant voice. The Met's scenery and staging are more believable, richer in imagery and impression, but Franz Mazura as good as he is, can't compare vocally to Roar, and looks a bit old.
Vocally, both casts are very fine. Each Gurnemanze, the vocal center of the opera, offers rich vocal portrayals, although Wolfgang Wagner has Hans Sotin act rather too condescendingly toward Parsifal in Act 1, losing some of our sympathy. The Met's Kurt Moll is rather more the wise-old grandfatherly type in the spirit of the well-meaning Gurnemanz.
Siegfried Jerusalem is both Parsifals, and his extra 12 years of stage experience shows more strongly at the Met. The voice may be slightly fresher at Bayreuth and his youthful looks a plus, but his Met Parsifal is deeper, more natural and more eloquent.
Bernd Weikl also graces both productions as an outstanding Amfortas. His Wieland Wagner-enforced less-is-more movement at Bayreuth is not a hindrance in this spiritually and physically wracked character, and in some ways is a plus.
Waltraud Meier's Kundry is one of the Met's highlights. She is more fetching and physically expressive than Bayreuth's Eva Randova, well as she sings. Meier brings a sensuality and stronger vocalizing to Kundry that is most compelling.
The conductor comparison surprised me, as I have not been a fan of Levine's Wagner, finding his "Ring" protracted and heavy handed. But "Parsifal" is a different animal in the Wagner canon; my two favorite audio recordings both come from that master of grand, Knappertsbusch (Bayreuth, 1951 and 1962). Levine, while not quite on his level, brings off a spirituality and conversely, more animation when called for, that the straightforward Stein, who is a good but not overly compelling (similar to what I felt about his Bayreuth DVD "Meistersinger").
Levine may unduly stretch tempos now and then, but to my taste, his is a more involved and felt journey than Stein's. Stein offers a good, solid reading which has the benefit of flow but misses some of Levine's passion and depth.
The drama is more real, believable and interactive in New York than Bayreuth. The sets and staging are more natural and compelling, too. An outstanding release.
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