The association of Parsifal with Bayreuth is closer than
that of any other stage work and theatre. That alone makes this
DVD worth considering. Great as are the audio only Parsifals
from Bayreuth, especially those of Knappertsbusch, the surround
sound of a DVD helps Wagner’s world come alive more vibrantly
and transparently. Considering that Wagner wrote this Bühnenweihfestspielspecifically
for Bayreuth, it’s important to take seriously the theatre’s
special acoustic and the impact this has on the Parsifal
sound.
Unfortunately, this production came from something of a dark
period in Bayreuth’s post-war history. Premiered in 1989,
it dates from Wolfgang Wagner’s festival directorship,
one which most critics regards as being, at best, a mixed success.
Wolfgang’s greatest initiative was to bring outside directors
into Bayreuth to enliven their productions, notably Götz
Friedrich, Patrice Chéreau and Harry Kupfer. Unfortunately
this served only to point up the inadequacies in Wolfgang’s
own productions. He seemed doomed to make pale copies of his
brother’s famed “New Bayreuth” style, but
in a manner much less successful than Wieland’s. Wolfgang’s
conception here is broadly traditional but without Wieland’s
courageous innovation so that the overall impression is anachronistic
and, most seriously, dull. The stage is kept fairly bare, though
we see the grail as a chalice which glows at the right points,
and Parsifal really does catch the spear at the end of Act 2.
The grail kingdom in Acts 1 and 3, however, is suggested by
a set of enormous green crystalline columns, more of a cubist
emerald city than the magical forest. These rotate to form a
stepped background for the grail temple, and Amfortas is given
a table to sit at for the ceremony. There’s nothing offensive
in any of this, but it falls between two stools: it doesn’t
offer the radical interpretation so successfully given by Nikolaus
Lehnhoff’s production on Opus Arte, and it doesn’t
do the ultra-traditional setting as successfully as Otto Schenk
for the Met on DG. Consequently it will probably please no-one
as a staging. Friedrich Spotts’ magisterial history of
the Bayreuth Festival, essential reading for any Wagnerian,
sums up this production succinctly by saying, “with no
evident concept of staging or interpretation, it appeared that
Wolfgang had run out of ideas.”
This is made worse by his appallingly staid non-direction of
the singers. For an enormous chunk of the staging the singers
merely stand still and sing at one another. Some will find this
a great blessing after bad experiences in other productions,
but it makes many scenes pass far too slowly. The great Parsifal/Kundry
duet, in particular, feels interminable, threatening to grind
to a halt altogether. Furthermore, Amfortas does barely anything
in his great Act 1 monologue in the temple. The knights do little
but march in file, and the flower maiden scene just looks daft.
Mercifully there are some redeeming features in the musical
performances. Poul Emling’s Parsifal is a safe, four-square
interpretation, almost irritatingly innocent in Act 1 but making
the journey through to the Grail King of Act 3 very convincingly.
Linda Watson’s voice is remarkably pure so that she doesn’t
quite manage to be the seductress of Act 2, but she makes a
beautiful sound. Hans Sotin booms his way through Gurnemanz
with authority, though not much beauty in the Good Friday scene.
Ekkehard Wlaschiha and Matthias Hölle are very successful,
though Struckmann’s Amfortas is much too gritty: he may
well convey the character’s agony but there are times
when tonal intonation feels about to disappear entirely. He
is far better heard on the Opus
Arte DVD. The best thing about this DVD is Sinopoli’s
conducting. He has a gift for uncovering the diaphanous transparency
of this great score, and in his hands the music seems to shimmer
in mid-air, though the weight of the Act 3 temple scene is hugely
compelling. There are times when I wished he would keep things
moving more effectively, but this is a worthy document to set
alongside his Dutchman and Tannhäuser recordings
for DG.
On the whole, though, that’s not enough to recommend this
DVD over the competition. In my experience the two most successful
interpretations are those I mentioned above and, depending on
your preference, you can probably enjoy either or both much
more than this one.
Simon Thompson
Parsifal - Poul Elming (tenor) 
[113:21 + 165:08] 
