18 Feb 2007
WAGNER: Parsifal
From the 2005 season of the “reborn” La Fenice comes this Dynamic DVD of Wagner’s Parsifal.
Recently in Recordings
Italian Opera at the Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, after suffering a calamitous fire in the early 1990s, reopened in 1999, lovingly restored. TDK has released a series of DVDs from the Liceu since that date, providing ample evidence of the world...
MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde
Premiered posthumously, the symphonic song-cycle Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) remains one of his defining works because of its synthesis of song and symphony, two genres he pursued throughout his career.
J. S. Bach, arr. Robert Schumann. Johannes Passion.
In 1851 during his first season as music director in Düsseldorf, Robert Schumann presented a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion, and unsurprisingly adapted the score both to nineteenth-century taste and nineteenth-century practicalities.
DE LALANDE: Les Folies de Cardenio.
The centrality of dance at the French court helped bring grace, order, and political allegory into the characteristic prominence they enjoyed during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV; theatre presentations of all stripes were infused with choreographic diversions.
SIBELIUS: Symphonies 1-7
In tandem with the recently released set of Sir Simon Rattle’s recordings of Mahler’s symphonies on EMI Classics, the set of the complete symphonies by Jean Sibelius merits attention.
Wagner: Orchestral Hightlights from the Operas
As much as Richard Wagner espoused opera reform in his theoretical writings by bringing to his works for the stage a closer unity between music and text, his actual means of doing so at times involved the use of orchestral forces that sometimes overwhelmed the sung word.
Italian opera on Gala
The budget label Gala purveys live performances both historic and relatively recent; of the three discussed here, the La Scala Fedora dates back to 1931, while the Attila comes from a 1987 La Fenice performance.
Echo de Paris: Parisian Love Songs 1610-1660
National styles of music in the seventeenth century were often distinctive, and in the case of French and Italian music, famously so.
MAHLER: Symphonies 1-10
With its recent release of Mahler’s symphonies conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, EMI Classics makes available in a single place an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
WAGNER: Parsifal
This DVD records and commemorates a 1981 production of Parsifal in its Bayreuth lair, and the singers of 1981 are as fine as recollection might paint them.
Historic opera performances in Russian on Gala
Once the custom of the world's opera houses was to translate great operas into the language of each respective country.
Deutsche Grammophon budget opera sets
Repackaging older recordings having become the primary focus of a classical recording company's business, Deutsche Grammophon budgeted some funds for art direction for its budget series called "Opera House" (although that appellation only appears in a link found on the back inside cover of the sets' booklets).
STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier
Of Rosenkavaliers on DVD, the classics tend to be lovingly detailed productions, going back to the film of Herbert von Karajan leading an exemplary cast, with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's iconic Marschallin.
Lamentazioni per la Settimana Santa
Despite an unsurprising degree of conservatism in liturgical music, devotional life in Rome often found ways of taking advantage of modern musical style.
Castradiva
“Her fioritura is priceless, breathtaking, and effortless.”
“One Foot in Eden Still, I Stand”: Choral Music by Nicholas Maw.
The English composer Nicholas Maw has been a major voice since the 1960's, with a wide range of works that include the 2002 opera, "Sophie’s Choice," a violin concerto for Joshua Bell (1993), and the monumentally-scaled orchestral work, "Odyssey" (1972-87).
MOZART: Requiem (Neukomm ed.)
As is often the case, last works that remain incomplete at the time of a composer’s death, are quick to invoke controversy and conspiracy theories.
ROUSSEAU: Le Devin du Village
This is a valuable new recording of a work that is only rarely heard, but was widely influential and wildly popular during the eighteenth century. Philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote both the libretto and the music, with mixed success.
Les Élémens
This disc is well worth the price for the first track alone: the opening measures of Jean-Féry Rebel’s “Cahos,” (Chaos), written in 1737 or 1738, may cause you to wonder if you accidentally left a Stockhausen or Ligeti disc in the changer.
Jan Neckers on Recently Reissued Historicals: December 2007
This recording made half a century ago will not be anyone’s first choice unless one is a die-hard fan of one of the principal singers; neither of them belonging to the absolute top in their profession.
OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »
Recordings
Having established itself as a resource for those with an interest in the rarer corners of the repertory, Dynamic here makes a creditable move into more familiar territory. True, Parsifal is not exactly La Boheme at the box office; nonetheless, the opera attracts the finest singers and directors, so Dynamic has to be willing to endure invidious comparisons here.
But they need not be invidious at all. While by no means a top-rank performance, the strengths here deserve recognition. After a brief opening montage of Venice, conductor Gabor Ötvös enters the pit to lead the Fenice players in a forthright but impassioned reading of the prelude. Ötvös does not linger; the long first act takes just about 100 minutes. Other conductors have taken longer, some considerably so, but the approach here pays respect to both the anxious, unsettled mood of the first act and to Wagner’s unique spiritual aura.
Denis Krief takes credit as director, set, costume and light designer. There is a zen-like purity to his conception (although thankfully no faux-Japanese elements intrude). A floor of rough wooden planks lies bare for acts one and three; the second has ominous walls of curved metal, rather like shavings off Disney Hall in Los Angeles. A few pale white stones and bisecting beams, suggesting a cross, serve to complete the stage picture in the first two acts. Krief’s costumes are in dark, muted colors, except for Klingsor’s. Singer Mikolaj Zalasinski bravely takes the stage in a white thong, with a kimono-like shawl providing a modest amount of modesty.
Visually then, this Parsifal offers the eye little, but Krief has real talent as a director. All the singers inhabit their roles with commitment, moving comfortably and naturally in the bare space. Only Kundry’s already dated pseudo-punk haircut mars the total picture, although the ultra-realistic deceased swan may produce a few giggles.
The cast list may not boast starry names, but there are no weak links. Tall and fairly athletic, Richard Decker doesn’t play up the “fool” side of Parsifal, instead projecting a Siegfried-like energy. At points his voice sounds about ready to wear itself out, and then he recovers his faculties and soldiers on. Matthias Hölle holds the evening together with his determined, serious Gurnemanz, a father figure to the knights and our guide to Parsifal’s transformation in act three. In a role where an unimpressive singer can really do some damage, Hölle’s success cannot be underestimated. Wolfgang Schöne doesn’t make as much of an impression as Amfortas, but the costuming here fails to suggest more strongly his agonizing wound. Doris Soffel also has to work against some unflattering costuming, but she understands Kundry’s complex character. More seductive women, in voice and physicality, have sung the role; Soffel gives as much of herself to the role as any singer can.
Krief may have decided to court controversy with the amount of nudity — male as well as female — in the bisexual orgy of act two. The problem is, the admirable physiques of professional dancers amidst the chorus of attired flower maidens does not suggest sexual corruption so well. The distraction factor can’t be ignored either, with Decker kneeling at one point to sing with bare buttocks exposed right over his shoulder. Krief also “gives up” on the spear toss from Klingsor to Parsifal with an awkward black-out.
But with almost any production of any opera, nits can be picked. With only a few other DVDs of the opera on the market, lovers of Parsifal should give this Dynamic release a viewing, despite the additional cost of an unnecessary third disc.
Chris Mullins