Wagner coined a blockbuster word to describe Parsifal's genre--BÃ¼hnenweihfestspiel, or a "festival play to consecrate the stage." In this, his last work, Wagner returns to the

Wagner: Parsifal

Wagner coined a blockbuster word to describe Parsifal's genre--BÃ¼hnenweihfestspiel, or a "festival play to consecrate the stage." In this, his last work, Wagner returns to the Christian mythology that occupied his imagination earlier in TannhÃ¤user and Lohengrin. But Parsifal is fundamentally different from the earlier more simplistic, heroic works. Parsifal tries to put the church into the theater, instead of simply giving church themes a theatrical dressing. Parsifal is probably the least accessible Wagnerian opus--the dreamy 19th-century view of Christian mysticism being especially hard for a 20th-century intellect to come to terms with. But those who invest in the effort of understanding the score will be rewarded with a sense of the mystic communion. Though Kollo is sometimes overwrought as the Grail Knight, Fischer-Dieskau is an extremely pitiable and sympathetic Amfortas, and a generally excellent cast carries the day with Frick as Gurnemanz being the highlight. Solti conducts the Wiener Philaharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) with mystic solemnity. --Christian C. Rix
Country USA
Manufacturer Uni/London Classics
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 028941714329
ReleaseDate 1987-07-07
Format Box set
UPCs 028941714329
EANs 0028941714329

Wagner: Parsifal