Customer Reviews

Wagner - Parsifal / Levine, Weikl, Mazura, Metropolitan Opera

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are currently only two versions of Parsifal available on DVD and this video of a Metropolitan Opera production is better musically than Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's movie version which is lip-synched by actors as well as opera singers. While Syberberg's movie is more politically and sexually charged (the flower maidens are naked) and his sets are quite imaginative, the Prague Philharmonic doesn't match the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra nor do the singers come up to the Met's cast.

This video is of a March 1992 production at the MET. The sets are naturalistic and conservative but very impressive. Having seen the production live I can say that the video does a good job of capturing it. Audience noise is minimal but the crowd insists on clapping before the music stops at the end of Act II - a regular, if annoying, ritual at the MET. Some portions of the orchestral shots appear to have been made without an audience present - the spectacular camera angles taken from a boom hovering over the orchestra could never haven been filmed during an actual performance. A minor quibble - the offstage chorus at the end of Act I sounds off the beat and out of tune. They are better at the end of Act III.

The SOUND on this DVD is superb. It is offered in PCM stereo, DOLBY DIGITAL, and DTS. Playback in DOLBY DIGITAL is natural with deep but not obtrusive bass; also there is no artifically distracting audio coming from the rear speakers. Presumably DTS is even better but I don't have it.

The picture is free of video artifacts, colors natural, and the image is especially detailed in scenes where the cameras were precisely in focus (quite a feat during a live opera production). Annoying was a break in the audio along with a jump in the picture in the middle of Act I on disc 1 and near the end of the orchestral prelude to Act III on disc 2. I believe this is indicative of the laser beam moving from one layer of the disc to another and may not be noticeable on newer DVD players. But the one in Act III could have been more judiciously placed.

The big question is LASER DISC versus DVD. Comparing the two with an S-video connection activated (I don't have component video) the DVD version is sharper (you can clearly see the notes on the music sheets in the orchestra) and MOST IMPORTANT, free of video noise - little white and colored dots that show up in particularly dark scenes. Sonically the DOLBY DIGITAL is not that noticable a difference over the LASER sound - if it were it would probably create too obtrusive a bass response. If you own the LASER you probably spent $60 for it several years ago and are wondering if the DVD is worth it. If you want a artifact-free picture, it definitely is.

After hearing both the Von Karajan and the Kna performances, but never seeing the Opera in person I bought this DVD after reading the varying reviews listed here. While it is true that both the Von Karajan and the Kna performances are utterly magnificent, they are both different. THIS performance is also magnificent, but again, different from the other 2.

Regarding the tempi, I do not find the tempi too slow, but rather find it a very creatve interpretation and courageous.
The second half of the first act is magnificent musically. True, Jerusalem sort of just stands there, but I prefer to accent the outstanding musical interpretation and ignore the flaws in the acting.

The Second Act is breathtaking. Franz Mazura (Klingsor) is marvelous and the whole scene is just magnificent. The spontaneous clapping at the end does not bother me since I wanted to stand up and cheer too after that act. I guess the New York audience is less conservative than a typical European audience, but I found it wonderful to see an audience reacting with such excitement.

I find the beginning of the Third Act a bit slow after the excitement in the Second Act, but this is personal. The end of the Third act is stunning.
Jerusalem is a wonderful Parsifal and manages to portray the "child" image well. Weikl is a great Amfortas. While he didn't sing like he is in pain, but looking closely his watering mouth and sweating face, he portrays his condition well. Moll is fantastic as Gurnemanz, and of course Meier is a an outstanding Kundry.

The sound and the sets are really fabulous.

Perhaps some of the other reviewer have already seen a performance of Parsifal. I never had that experience. I wat not disappointed and I constantly watch sections that I especially enjoy over and over.

I highly recommend this DVD set. If you have heard another performance, you might need to keep an open mind because this performance is different and does not try to be Von Karajan or Kna. However, this performance holds its own as being no less magnificent then the other 2.

Some years back,a popular PBS crime series "Inspector Morse" ended. The inspector in question was a lover of opera and classical music. He suffered a sudden fatal heart attack. As he lay at peace in the hospital bed, the opening bars of the prelude to Wagner's Parsifal played. Momentarily,I was transcended. This ethereal music always has this effect on me.
I find only 2 problems with the acting in this drama. Vocally,the production is a masterpiece. Waltraud Mier's Kundry wasn't wild enough and Franz Mazura's Klingsor wasn't menacing enough.That said,on to the good stuff!
The great Kurt Moll as Gurnemanz is the standout here.His voice is so perfect and beautiful.I wish he had recorded a Wotan.
He is a fantastic Sarastro in DG "The Magic Flute".
ActIII is the one I most enjoyed. The healing of Amfortas and the ascension of the former "fool" Parsifal to power were breathtaking. With Wagner,it's so much more about the music than the vocals. This music is glorious. The Met Opera orchestra deserves special thanks for this tremendous achievement.

Parsifal is my favorite of Wagner's music-dramas. It has the most of all of them - Parsifal incorporates Catholic, Buddhist, and mythical themes into an overwhelmingly beautiful story infused throughout with a sense of devotion, piety, and worshipfulness.

The recording here is very good - Levine and the Met Opera Orchestra are in fine form as always. Siegfried Jerusalem makes a great Parsifal, Bernd Weikl makes a fine Amfortas (though I like Jose van Damm under Karajan better), and Waltraud Meier brings a wonderfully sensuous quality to the role of Kundry. Kurt Moll really steals the show though as far as singing is concerned, with an incomparable portrayal of Gurnemanz. The only complaint I can make about the singing is that Franz Mazura sounds really, REALLY old and doesn't successfully bring off the role of Klingsor.

The staging is very traditional - which seems to be hard to find these days - and the video quality is very good. The DVD menu allows for selections of running subtitles in several languages, including English.

This is a traditionally staged version from the Met. Somebody complained about the slow tempi by Levine, but, I think this tempi also works fine. All the Wagner's opera could be conducted in different ways and, if you like this tempi or the other, it's all up to your musical taste (e.g. Bernstein's slow Tristan is as much appreciated as the fast Boehm's). It's not like Solti's magnificent CD set, not even better than Armin Jordan's conducting in Syberberg's film version, though, I have nothing to complain about it.
The cast in this production is impressive. Weikl, Moll, Rootering, all the legends are here. There would be no one who could portray Kundry better than Meier, both physically and musically at the same time. She is terrific, expressive, powerful, above all, beautiful. Jerusalem is okay. Vocally excellent, but, not a good actor... well, at least he is good looking.
The video transfer could have been better, while the sound is excellent and includes DTS. Thank God it didn't fall in the hands of dreadful Pioneer Classics! Image Entertainment could have done a better job?? There are optional subtitles in five languages including the original German. This set includes some special features & booklet with pictures. Nice presentation.
Now there are two DVD version of Parsifal. Me, being the biggest fan of Parsifal, I got them both. Which one is better? It's a hard question. Musically Syberberg's film version has no comparison, otherwise both are so great and so different. Get them both!

For me anyhow - this is Wagner's greatest gift - even better than the the Nibelung. Having played excerpts form the opera in amauture orchestral venues -- I can say that this work is "Erlebnis" (Experience). At once Wagner captures the piety of medieval Europe (now but a dim memory in an almost completely secular place), the foundational reverence of the Holy Sacrament, and essence of Christian grace. All of this with combined with was has to be one of the most moving musical scores of German romanticism. And thank you Met. Opera and James Levine for both re-igniting TRADITIONAL Wagnerian vision/stagings (and not those rancid "revisionist" directions), and making such respectable again.

Levine's 1993 Met performance and Horst Stein's 1981 audience-free Bayreuth production are the only traditional "Parsifals" on DVD, so a comparison seems in order. The Bayreuth "Parsifal" has very fine singing but is marred by less than involved acting and occasional weak production touches by Wolfgang Wagner. The singing at the Met is just as good, and Otto Schenk's production is far better. The Met scores in terms of scenery, staging and acting. There is a magic in New York that is not there in Bayreuth, which has a more plain, homespun quality, attractive in its own way (similar in that regard to Wolfgang Wagner's "Bayreuth "Meistersinger.").

Schenk's handling of characters is just more involving and inviting. Here are seemingly real people facing important issues. Wolfgang Wagner's sense of stage acting comes basically from the stand and deliver school, lacking much compelling interaction between characters to bring the drama to life. The drama here is not exactly gripping; static is more like it.

On its own, the Bayreuth forest that opens acts 1 and 3 is fine, but next to the Met's grand and realistic outdoors, feels a bit cramped and artificial after a while. Bayreuth's second scene of both acts (the hall of the castle of the grail), a la his brother Wieland's 1951-75 production, is abstract yet compelling, too, in its own way. But the Met has a more spiritual setting and a more deeply affecting result.

Act 2 starts out in Bayreuth with Klingsor's castle looking like a cheap science fiction B-movie scene with cheesy-looking smoke, abstract curved pillars on the side and Klingsor dominating from above like a tacky evil superhero. Unconvincing. Laughable even. Sad when Leif Roar is a most compelling Klingsor, full of menace and in vibrant voice. The Met's scenery and staging are more believable, richer in imagery and impression, but Franz Mazura as good as he is, can't compare vocally to Roar, and looks a bit old.

Vocally, both casts are very fine. Each Gurnemanze, the vocal center of the opera, offers rich vocal portrayals, although Wolfgang Wagner has Hans Sotin act rather too condescendingly toward Parsifal in Act 1, losing some of our sympathy. The Met's Kurt Moll is rather more the wise-old grandfatherly type in the spirit of the well-meaning Gurnemanz.

Siegfried Jerusalem is both Parsifals, and his extra 12 years of stage experience shows more strongly at the Met. The voice may be slightly fresher at Bayreuth and his youthful looks a plus, but his Met Parsifal is deeper, more natural and more eloquent.

Bernd Weikl also graces both productions as an outstanding Amfortas. His Wieland Wagner-enforced less-is-more movement at Bayreuth is not a hindrance in this spiritually and physically wracked character, and in some ways is a plus.

Waltraud Meier's Kundry is one of the Met's highlights. She is more fetching and physically expressive than Bayreuth's Eva Randova, well as she sings. Meier brings a sensuality and stronger vocalizing to Kundry that is most compelling.

The conductor comparison surprised me, as I have not been a fan of Levine's Wagner, finding his "Ring" protracted and heavy handed. But "Parsifal" is a different animal in the Wagner canon; my two favorite audio recordings both come from that master of grand, Knappertsbusch (Bayreuth, 1951 and 1962). Levine, while not quite on his level, brings off a spirituality and conversely, more animation when called for, that the straightforward Stein, who is a good but not overly compelling (similar to what I felt about his Bayreuth DVD "Meistersinger").

Levine may unduly stretch tempos now and then, but to my taste, his is a more involved and felt journey than Stein's. Stein offers a good, solid reading which has the benefit of flow but misses some of Levine's passion and depth.

The drama is more real, believable and interactive in New York than Bayreuth. The sets and staging are more natural and compelling, too. An outstanding release.

I find that this production is the only one that correctly produces Wagner's intentions as he wanted them.

Traditional scenery...lush and noble staging. The characters act profoundly and there is a great deal of drama and magic all throughout!

My favorite Parsifal on DVD!

As I watched Parsifal I felt grateful to belong to a society which can produce such a performance.

There will always be differences of opinion regarding musical interpretation, stage production, selection of cast, etc., but the number of dedicated (yes, it's still a good word) people involved and the enormous amount of time and resources is stunning to contemplate.

I enjoyed my first viewing/listening and expect to treasure this DVD for a long time. I am quite familiar with the opera, having played it many times (violinist), but seeing it from out front is a completely new experience. Generally it is understood that Wagner was a bit long-winded, and some more judicious cuts could improve the performance. I always thought it was kind of Wagner to write the string parts in the manner he wrote them in the Flower Girl Scene. There are just enough rests that the first violins can quickly turn their heads a see what is happening on stage, and our first violin section did just that in dress rehearsals (we were allowed). The sight was always rewarding, but it is even more so from out front!

Every person who doesn't own this DVD should buy it immediately and watch it/listen to it. It will improve your attitude, I promise.

Aproppriated scenarios,excelent singers,a good music making by Levine. However,as some people say that Haydn's bad luck was to be Mozart's contemporary,we could say ,for many conductors in some works,it is not easy to be contemporary of Karajan,forgive me those who hate the idiosyncrasy and vanity of the Austrian conductor.His recording of Parsifal,despite uneven P Hoffmann,has an orchestral texture reaching a matchless supernatural rapture,a difficult concentration in adagios and a heavenly athmosphere in te "eucharistic"moments,so that every other version seem to lack some sublimity,although they would be excellent once we did not know Karajan recording. Flavio J.Morsch , Brazil