Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great production: unforgettable Amfortas, 16 Sep 2005
By A Customer
There are many reasons why this is a 'Parsifal' worth seeing, but for me it's the performances of the principals that make it so moving and memorable.
The director, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, gives us a stark setting - a Grail Temple at the end of the world (end of space or end of time? - it could be either). The Knights, once so dedicated to helping those in need, have become introspective and obsessed with their rituals, and are callous and aggressive towards Amfortas throughout. Through his enlightenment, Parsifal redeems this society and Lehnhoff gives us an ending to the opera in which Parsifal and Kundry lead the Knights out of the Temple and back to the world that needs them. Lehnhoff carries off his production with conviction and inner logic, getting rid of all the sentimentality and religiosity that can so often spoil this opera. The sets are minimal, but establish the feel of decay. The realm of the Grail is a shabby walled courtyard, the temple an open space with simple entrances at the back. The Grail itself (in Act 1 at least) is handled with genius: we, the audience, never see it - we only see a blinding light around which the Knights cluster. In Act 2, Klingsor floats above the stage in a glass bubble, seemingly supported by a skeleton pelvis (actually a projection): later, his garden is again a simple open space.
Chinese and Japanese influences keep coming up. Titurel, who appears on stage in this production, is clad in jade grave-armour; Klingsor is given a Japanese costume; Parsifal's armour in the final act looks partly Samurai. These give a welcome stylistic flourish among the starkness.
The singing and acting are the best I recall seeing in an opera production. The two choruses (Knights and Flower Maidens) have been directed and choreographed with a rare degree of thought and intelligence, adding to their collective characters. Waltraud Meier's Kundry is a chameleon figure, changing character and appearance as the plot progresses, and Meier never puts a foot or a note wrong. Klingsor is menacing, Titurel angry, and both come across as real characters. Matti Salminen gives Gurnemanz wisdom and gravitas, yet with more than a touch of the gruff reactionary about him. His singing of the part, I need hardly say, is mightily impressive. Christopher Ventris takes his Parsifal on a journey from the feral child of Act 1 to the weary redeemer of Act 3 with a sure step and a refreshing, if rather light, voice.
For me, Thomas Hampson's Amfortas is the greatest performance: it is revelatory. For Wagner, it was Amfortas who was the central character of the opera, and Lehnhoff and Hampson present him as such. This is an Amfortas like I've never seen before, not the passive weakling one so often sees, but a neurotic wreck of a formerly great man. Hampson's acting and singing are profoundly moving: this Amfortas really suffers, and his final scene moved me to tears.
Kent Nagano conducts his orchestra at a generally quick pace, but never too quick. His approach is restrained, unsentimental, and holds the attention.
Picture and sound quality are brilliant. (In fact the picture quality is almost too good - you can see every bead of sweat on the singers' faces on what must have been a hot night.) The accompanying documentary 'Parsifal's Progress' is an interesting and intelligent commentary on the production, and includes interviews with most of the principals and several of the production team, including Lehnhoff and Nagano.
The Wagner scholar Bryan Magee has pointed out that though the music of 'Parsifal' is among the most beautiful ever written, the meanings of the opera are less easy to read. Here Lehnhoff gives us his own fascinating reading of its meanings, and the music is about as beautiful as it can be without detracting from the drama. I recommend it highly.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb re-setting of Parsifal, 28 Jan 2006
Musically, this is a superb Parsifal. It comes with stereo and 5.1 tracks, and the 5.1 track is the finest I have heard on my modest TV surround system. Kent Nagano conducts at a balanced pace, not too quick, but without the excessive plodding of many Wagner conductors (Wagner himself was believed to have been the quickest Wagner conductor of all).Matti Salminen gives a reference performance as Gurnemanz, as does Waltraud Meier as Kundry, who continues to be the best in this part I have seen, and does not disappoint in this production. The rest of the singers fit this production well, with Thomas Hampson as a tortured Amfortas, Christopher Ventris as a truly wild young Parsifal, yet assuming the full dignity required for the final act. Tom Fox is a mesmerising Klingsor, and Bjarni Thor Kristinsson is a resonant and commanding Titurel. I was slightly put off by the post-apocalyptic setting when I ordered this opera, but tried it as I tried the Rings of Chereau and Zvoboda in the early 80s. This setting has been a revelation. Parsifal was once described by a leading Nazi as part of the creed of Nazism, yet was banned by Goebbels in 1939, supposedly for its pacifist message and for its baptism of a semitic heroine. Lenhoff's production throws aside the Teutonic symbolism with which Wagner's staging entwines Parsifal with German destiny, and gives us a universal Parsifal. The words may be Christian, but the message of inclusivity created by Kundry leading the nights to the grail is a novel ending that turns this into a world piece of art. If you find Parsifal in any way difficult because of Nazi attempts to adopt it, this is the work for you. Highly recommended.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dr Who Meets the Muppets, 12 Dec 2006
Like the reviewer above, I am unable to recommend this set with much enthusiasm.
I should start by saying that Wagner's music conjures up its own imagery in my mind, imagery which more often than not coincides with the stage descriptions that Wagner provides. For me, the best productions are those which allow me to concentrate on the acting and singing by using visuals which are either faithful to Wagner or are abstract in a neutral way. However, if a production brings in ideas outside of those suggested in the libretto, I can find it very difficult to reconcile the differing emotions conveyed by eye and ear.
Unfortunately this is one of those "Parsifal" productions which introduces those alien ideas. For instance, most of the action in Act 1 occurs in a stark concrete bunker, suggestive of some sort of post-apocalypse science fiction world rather than Wagner's forest glade. There is no correlation with the beauty or mystery inherent in the music. The costumes are also problematic. Take Kundry, for instance. In Act 1, her make up and costume make her look like a bizarre feathered cat, while in Act 2 she spends much of the time encased in a large plastic vegetable. As for the Grail knights, they are dressed like conscripts from World War One. Titurel looks like Darth Maul. It is as if characters from the "Muppet Show" have wandered into a 1970s episode of "Dr Who". I can only assume that the producer, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, has a visual imagination which is at the expense of any sensitivity for what Wagner's music is actually communicating.
All this might be tolerable if the musical performance were something special, but it is not. I generally think of Nagano as mainly a conductor of 20th century works, and his performance of the dissonant Transformation Music is powerful, but elsewhere I do not feel he communicates the mystery, nobility and poetry of the score.
As if the problems mentioned above were not enough, Lehnhoff changes the outcome of the opera.
Other reviewers have commented positively on the acting and singing as well as the audio and visual quality, but it's difficult for me to enjoy these elements unless placed in a framework of music and drama which reflects Wagner's intentions. For my money, that is not the case here.
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