Wagner: Parsifal

Andrew Richards (Parsifal), Anna Larsson (Kundry), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Gurnemanz), Thomas Johannes Mayer (Amfortas), Tómas Tómasson (Klingsor) & Victor von Halem (Titurel)

Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie, Hartmut Haenchen (conductor) & Romeo Castellucci (stage director)

This is an impressive but wildly idiosyncratic account of Wagner's last drama, at any rate from the visual and dramatic point of view...Fortunately the musical side of things, under Hartmut Haenchen,... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 25th Nov 2013
Catalogue No: BAC097
Label: Bel Air Classiques

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Wagner: Parsifal

Andrew Richards (Parsifal), Anna Larsson (Kundry), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Gurnemanz), Thomas Johannes Mayer (Amfortas), Tómas Tómasson (Klingsor) & Victor von Halem (Titurel)
Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie
Hartmut Haenchen (conductor) & Romeo Castellucci (stage director)

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Choreography: Cindy Van Acker

Set & costume designs, lighting: Romeo Castellucci

Dramaturgy: Piersandra di Matteo

Recording: La Monnaie / De Munt, Bruxelles - 20/02/2011

A mythical performance from la Monnaie - Bruxelles

Parsifal is a strange and enigmatic work. At the end of his life, did Wagner wish to celebrate asceticism, which he himself had never practised? Did he fall upon his knees before the Cross, as claimed by Nietzsche? And what does the secret society of knights based on pure blood signify, desperately waiting for the saviour to regenerate it? What is the true nature of the opposition between the worlds of Klingsor and the Grail? What can Parsifal tell us today? In his artistic will and testament, Wagner condenses his moral idea of the world and returns to the roots of love and religion - to the very heart of art according to him. With the participation of conductor Hartmut Haenchen who is passionated by the score, Italian stage director Romeo Castellucci proposes an original reading of this brilliant work and explores the essence of Wagnerian ‘Kunstreligion’ in a different light.

Reviews

February 2014

This is an impressive but wildly idiosyncratic account of Wagner's last drama, at any rate from the visual and dramatic point of view...Fortunately the musical side of things, under Hartmut Haenchen, is consistently at the highest level...And he has a fine set of soloists...if you think you know Parsifal well, get this.

February 2014

Haenchen directs an occasional over-fervent but generally well-paced reading, and the singers are excellent. In his final exhortation to the assembled company, Andrew Richards crowns an account of the title-role that is appropriately forceful without turning blustery.

February 2014

the musical performance is superb. The performers all operate from a base of sound musicianship, guided by the lyrical, immaculately controlled, unfailingly sensitive conducting of Hartmut Haenchen...Richards and Larsson make memorable role debuts, the tenor offering unfailingly fresh, firm and powerful tone...[Larsson's] singing in the seduction has true allure.

Wagner: Parsifal

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