The Searchers of the Grail - A Tony Palmer film
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Parsifal (opera - excerpts)
Parsifal - Plácido Domingo; Kundry - Violeta Urmana; Gurnemanz - Matti Salminen; Klingsor - Nicolai Putilin; Amfortas - Deodor Mojhaev
Kirov Orchestra and Choir/Valery Gergiev
rec. Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. No date supplied: 1998?
PCM Stereo; picture format 4.3; region: worldwide.
ARTHAUS MUSIK 109081 Blu-ray [88:00]
It is some 32 years since Tony Palmer made his colossal nine-hour
epic film of the life of Wagner starring Richard Burton in the title role.
Here he uses some footage from this epic when he revisits the composer with
a film about the search for the Holy Grail, This is centred on excerpts from
Parsifal with Domingo in the title role and Urmana as Gundry with
the Kirov Choir and Orchestra conducted by Gergiev.
The Holy Grail was the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and
it was believed that his blood was gathered within it as it dripped from his
crucified body. Different legends located the cup in diverse places including
Spain and Glastonbury in England where it was supposed to have been taken
by Joseph of Arimathea. In a concentrated span of less than 90 minutes Palmer
tells us much more about the Grail and its significance. He covers the self-aggrandising
search for the Grail by Adolf Hitler and contrasts the purer selfless motive
of Indiana Jones - played by Harrison Ford - in Steven Spielberg’s 1989
film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Hitler had identified himself
with Parsifal believing that the true meaning of the Wagner work was the conviction
that, for Germany, a true Aryan race was to be desired at the expense of the
elimination of Jewish influence. Palmer calls upon Karen Armstrong, a Biblical
Scholar to cover the legends surrounding the Grail. These started circulating
in the thirteenth century. Later the true altruistic meaning of the Grail
is argued with Domingo echoing Wagner’s actual words in his Parsifal
libretto: “Through suffering, knowledge. Through knowledge, compassion.
Through compassion, love.”
The film includes footage taken in the beautiful gardens of the Villa Rufolo
in Ravello, Italy above Amalfi where Wagner was inspired to write Parsifal
and within the Wagner theatre in Bayreuth where the composer’s grandson,
Wolfgang Wagner, explains how the theatre was specially redesigned to accommodate
the exact sound and staging Wagner required for this, his last opera.
The excerpts include external location-filmed scenes. Understandably the emotional
impact of the whole is lost in viewing only parts of this powerfully emotional
work. These very much simplify the complex story: first we witness the killing
of the swan by the hapless boy Parsifal near the enchanted lake where Amfortas
is bathing his wound but in vain. The wound had been inflicted by the spear
that had pierced Christ’s side on the cross. The next excerpt is set
at the communion service in the Temple. From Act II, Klingsor, the evil sorcerer
summons his flower-maidens, then Kundry, to seduce Parsifal. They fail because
Parsifal recognises his mission to rescue Amfortas. Klingsor reappears and
hurls the spear at Parsifal who seizes it and making the sign of the cross
causing Klingsor’s garden and castle to disappear. The final excerpt,
from Act III is set in the temple again. Amfortas is cured when Parsifal touches
his wound with the Holy Spear. Kundry is redeemed and Parsifal becomes the
new leader of the Knights of the Temple.
The juxtaposition of realistic filmed locations and obvious stage-sets look
odd and jar but the principals with the usual age caveats impress. Domingo
recorded as Parsifal
for DG in 2005 and our reviewer, Tony Hayward’s comments very much
apply here. Urmana makes a compelling Kundry.
The coverage of the legends and the meaning of the Holy Grail ultimately provide
the main point of interest of Tony Palmer’s stimulating film.
Ian Lace
|
Support us financially by purchasing
this from
|
|
 |
 |