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What our customer's say!

"bad luck", 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

"Still the ideal interpretation", 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!

"Niggling criticism, enormous gratitude for this 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.

"Should Wagner Be Staged?", Right from the first shimmering soulful series of chords that launches the overture, the music of Parsifal is sublime, otherworldly, heroic yet sensitive to the cost of heroism. The Met orchestra plays it with consummate skill, and Levine's conducting convinces this listener of the depth in the music that another conductor might turn into bombast. The cast of singers are certainly also consummate artists, though at times the demands of such a long score come close to overmatching their physical resources. But the staging can best be described as "plodding." Seriously, many of the characters spend minutes at a stretch just plodding from one X on the stage to another. And they do it so slowly! It doesn't help that most of them, the principals and the minor roles too, depend entirely on the upholstery of their costumes to lend them any stage presence at all, apart from Wagnerian bulkiness. The whole production has all the romantic mystery of a Midwestern family reunion without the potato salad.
A new generation of Wagnerian singers, and especially of stage directors, is urgently needed to pass the torch of Wagner's operas to younger audiences. I don't think the new direction will be more minimalism; that's been tried, that may have life in it for Handel and Gluck but it has already flopped with Wagner. Notice how few new productions of Wagner are appearing on DVD, and how many of those that have been released are 20 or more years old? I don't know what the next wave of Wagner should be like, but for the present I find it easier to enjoy the music on CD than on the stage.

If you spurn my advice, however, and buy this DVD, go directly to the second disk. It appears, as Milton thought, that the evil ones are the most attractive. Franz Mazurka gives a powerful performance as the wicked wizard Klingsor. Waltraud Meier is a five-star temptress, both vocally and dramatically, as Kundry. Poor Siegried Jerusalem is not only too old to be plausible as Parsifal, visually or vocally, but also he is no more an actor than George W is a compassionate conservative.

Perhaps the key to staging Wagner is ruthless editing.

"A tremendous experience", 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.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"The ring it's not but still very good", I feel in love with opera after seeing Wagner's ring; the power held in opera and it's ability to communicate our human condition is rearly matched. Parsifal, like the Ring, was taken by Wagner from German lore; yet, the Ring is very much a pagan tale, with gods, elves and enchanments, while Parsifal has its roots in christian mythology and grail lore.

I purchesed Parsifal and, at first, had trobule getting into it (The way Albrich cursed love in Das Rhinegold can spoil you). As the opera went on though, its message and strength became more clear and potent. the essence of the story is the nature of the christan detity and the belief and hope of redemption from past sin. Amfortas, the one who must care for the grail, is a "spotted sheep" like Lancelot in the questa del grail. smote with a wound that will not heal (the Fisher king), he is the dammned man that can only be saved by grace and the deeds of an "innocent fool".

The plot of the wizard is purely medevil, yet the villan is given depth in that he is a fallen knight who tempts others with a sin he himself has not commited. He is 2nd to the temptresses that the knights face and the condemed woman saved by Parsifal. It is refreshing to see that, at one time, chasty and honor were in vouge.

Of course, there are many views on the meaning of the grail-one need look no farther than the mondern Da Vinic code, Indian Jones, or the ancient Quest de Grail (and who can forget the indepth research of Monty Python in to Grail lore?). But what I got from Wagner was the dualism of Christiany: the same God that can damn men to endless suffering-Amforas through his wound-also is their only hope of salvation-the grail and the spear. The death that saves (Christ) is symbolically the spear; it can give and take life.

Notable in Wagner's works is the child like heroes-Sigfired,Parsifal- caught up in a complex world of evil. An enjoyable work, I gave it only four stars because I felt that the subtitles were somewhat lacking in clarity. This, like most great art explores how man falls, suffers, and is either redemed-through some heroic act or intervention- or destroyed by his own devices.

"Music-drama it is not", Unconvincing acting from Jerusalem and Weikl, insufficient seductive beauty from the Flower Maidens, ridiculous coughing from the audience and the "End of Act II Fiasco" as already mentioned by another reviewer are only some of the problems with this production.

But above all else, the staging is a bore. Couldn't Parsifal be done as a film instead of these cheesey sets?

Thus, we are left with Wagner's glorious music and not much else.

Still enjoy Kurt Moll's voice though so 3 stars.

"Magnificent performance", 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.

"Why does the Met insist on filming with an audience?", Overall, I was pleased with this production of Parsifal. I did have a few issues with this DVD though.

The first is the audience. Having been to the Met a few times and having seen several of their video productions, I must say they have the single most obnoxious audience of any I know of (except maybe the Cleveland Orchestra's). Why anyone would choose to film in front of any audience, let alone the Met audience, is beyond me. The coughing never ends, and what's more disturbing is the applause before the end of the second act. Do Met audiences not understand that Wagner intended us to hear the last bar of the act? Something I found interesting is that the audio is immediately cut at the last note of the first act. This is a great move for editing, since even today Bayreuth audiences hold applause until the second act, giving the first act the feel of a religious sacrament.

The second complaint I have is Bernd Weikl as Amfortas. His singing is simply beautiful, which is exactly the problem. In order to be an effective Amfortas, one must sing not beautifully, but instead painfully. Amfortas is suffering personified, and his suffering should be heard in the voice. Weikl acts the part very well, and always looks the part, but his singing simply does not convey the character the way I've heard it by others.

Waltraud Meier is wonderful as Kundry, and her makeup and costuming wonderfully displays her transformations from the "wild woman" to the sexy temptress in the second act. Her singing is standard. Kurt Moll gives an exceptional Gurnemanz, which is always important seeing as how he has more lines than anyone else in the opera.

The only other complaint I had was the makeup on Siegfried Jerusalem. He looks like porcelain in the close-ups. True, a lot more makeup is needed when performing in front of an audience than on camera, which is yet another reason that operas, especially one as sacred as Parsifal, should not be filmed in front of audiences.

Overall I enjoyed the film. Much of my criticism is simply a matter of personal preference, but there are several things I would like to change about his production.

"Brilliant Film and Acting, but Levine is no Knappertsbusch", There is a lot about this DVD that I love, from the opening footage of Lincoln Center to the ascension of the chandeliers, the stage settings, the extraordinarily convincing acting, the wonderfully clear sound. However, Levine, perhaps seeking to emulate Hans Knappertsbusch in choice of a "langsam" tempo, actually comes off in the opening prelude and several times throughout as sounding as though he has lost his place. Where Kna would draw out the essence, the twilight, the mystique inherent in the mysticism in this wonderful opera, Levine's mob seems to just stop at points. And maybe it's me, but on video, he looks down at the score, so maybe, just maybe, he did forget. Maybe it's a cultural thing. New York tends to overwhelm whatever it does, that sometimes the more subtle and fragile essences are lost.

That should send most New Yorkers into a frenzy. Anyway, Parsifal had its first performance outside of Bayreuth in NY with the Met, so the return in 1993 was a return effected with an homage to, though not a replication of, the directions the composer had issued for the production. The scenery is great. As you watch the singers perform, they inhabit their roles with conviction. Lighting is dramatic. In fact the whole experience is very much one of great wonder and joy to be part of. On DVD, it sparkles!

I am likely ruined by Kna's 1962 performance, made in the certain knowledge that he was dying himself. On CD, that is the performance to own. You will feel your heart being pulled from your chest. The essence of the philosophical issues and the human questions presented in the music and text were cleared and presented by an artist as iconclastic, independent and as visionary as anyone to ever take up the baton. The orchestra and the singers knew the drama on the page and from the podium and played and sang as I've never heard in any other production.

How could NY hope to match that? You would have to be German and would have to have lived in Kna's soul. All the same, this is a remarkable document of a work that asked so many questions about the nature of one's heart and soul. I enjoyed this enormously and would think that all lovers of this opera will find elements to embrace passionately in this production.