Wagner - Parsifal - Elming, Sotin, Watson, Sinopoli Bayreuth 1998

Amfortas - Falk Struckmann
Titurel - Matthias Hölle
Gurnemanz - Hans Sotin
Parsifal - Poul Elming
Klingsor - Ekkehard Wlaschiha
Kundry - Linda Watson
1. Gralsritter - Richard Brunner
2. Gralsritter - Sándor Sólyom-Nagy
1. Knappe - Sarah Fryer
2. Knappe - Jane Turner
3. Knappe - Helmut Pampuch
4. Knappe - Peter Maus
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Claudia Barainsky
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Joyce Guyer
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Simone Schröder
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Katerina Beranova
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Dorothee Jansen
Klingsors Zaubermädchen - Laura Nykänen
Altsolo - Andrea Bönig
Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra
Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor
Wolfgang Wagner, stage director and set designer
Recorded live from the Bayreuth Festival, 1998.

[@stillstanding6031]

Arguably the most sublime assembly of notes ever put to staff. Not of this earth. Truly divine inspiration even after 60 years of listening. A great comfort in my old age.

[@illyaismaili6413]

Best production of Parsifal in the recent 40 years. Why won't they produce wagner operas like this production anymore?

[@jgesselberty]

Because all of the producers with no imagination have jumped on the "laundromat staging" with the "thrift store" costuming, band wagon. Presenting the sublime as garbage.

[@manuelgimenez1078]

Maestro Sinopoli.

[@richardallen3810]

Hearing this in Bayreuth in 2018 was a dream come true. I waited 7 years to finally get my 1 ticket. It was worth the wait. You can feel the mystical sense of music pour forth over your body.

[@singularislupus]

Been there, done that...Last time on a motorcycle, with my old lady on the back seat, whom I had met at a rock and roll concert. Bayreuth is special because it was designed by Wagner himself (maybe I should Goggle that lol). The seats are mostly wood and some people bring cushions. It is also small and like the roman acoustics. Forget the Met and so on. Let's apply to music what 2000 year old science has taught us and the 21st century would have us forget.

[@zap7777]

Wish I also had been there. What a great cast. My first Parsifal was way later - the one directed by Schlingensief. Fun fact - I also came with my motocycle to Bayreuth. My first tour was to the Festspielhaus. I had to stop at a crosswalk...and Schlingesief himself crossed the street directly in fron of me ;-)

[@BenEmberley]

Pity about the staging though, it's gone downhill in the last 15 years or so

[@vincentandrews301]

What an experience. How much do tickets cost? I imagine it's quite a lot.

[@richardallen3810]

@@vincentandrews301 I sat left orchestra middle and payed $200. I’m going back this year to see the Ring and the new production of Parsifal and sitting in the rear orchestra and my ticket was $$345. It’s always higher the first year for any new production.

[@franzwallner4281]

Magnifica versión.Muchas gracias, mujer ! Usted se merece un premio.

[@andreaguarino8207]

The great Maestro Sinopoli. I remember him so well

[@BenEmberley]

Audio-wise, possibly the greatest performance of this Opera I've ever heard. My favourite

[@singularislupus]

Funny you should say that. I had to learn to program my hearing aids and after my son's wedding where I had many opportunities to test and modify them. I have my favorites pieces which prior to getting the hearing aids I would modify with an equalizer and they would sound very close to the real thing but this is the closest I have been to Bayreuth since I was there in 1987.

[@terryhammond1253]

🎹 I have heard Parsifal all over the world (including Bayreuth in '98 and '99) and this performance ranks with the best. 🎹

[@MERIDA1TV]

I agree. Maybe the 2008 Parsifal with Daniele Gatti. That sound was crazy. Make sure you go to my channel. Mexico will present Parsifal for the first time in the country and i'm going to make a documentary film about it

[@andretim75]

@@MERIDA1TV For the first time -- unbelievable -- why that ?

[@florisvalpedroso6359]

My dream to see Wagner in the Bayreuth Festspiele came thrue in 1997 after a waiting time of ten yeras with Parsifal and the complete program that year. Unforgetable.

[@tomascalafcervera1081]

Impresionante version. Grande Grundig

[@MrYorickJenkins]

Das Singen und das Orchester sind hervorragend! Bravo!

[@tannhaeuserx464]

The greatest Communion.

[@azcoyote2]

I WASNT ABLE TO BE THER THAT YEAR BUT i' BET THE OVTION WHEN ON FOR AN HOUR!!!

[@martinschwehla4704]

Lange verschwunden und schmerzlich vermisst

[@stillstanding6031]

Simply sumptuous!! Remarkable recording and soloists. Sinopoli is dearly missed.

[@bobturnley2787]

Hans Sotin, one of the best Gurnemanz of the century still sounding great here at age 59. Elming and Watson both sing beautifully.

[@stillstanding6031]

Gurnemanz's get better with age. Long suffering usually does it.

[@bobturnley2787]

@@stillstanding6031 It can be true. But Kurt Moll age 60 was not as good as he was age 45.

[@TheMrMoops]

1. Aufzug: 1:58 2. Aufzug: 1:53:36 3. Aufzug: 3:03:15

[@TheMrMoops]

3:41:57 Gesegnet sei, du Reiner, durch das Reine!

[@iyadkanaan5991]

Quelle belle interprétation. sublime mise en scene.

[@francoisdelmar3]

Love this version, Sinopoli, Emung, et al...

[@mjlosur8986]

Excellente production pour cette œuvre majeure. Une mise en scène qui respecte l’esprit de l’œuvre ça devient rare. Interprètes excellents et une prise de son très présente et claire. Un grand bonheur pour plusieurs jours. ❤

[@hiramcastroescritor3199]

Desde los tiempos de Knappertsbusch no se presentaba un Parsifal tan intenso en Bayreuth. El final, con el rostro transfigurado de Elming, es de otra dimensión...

[@argynn]

FANTASTIC ! The Flower Maidens scene is a pure wonder ! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@christacartwright9083]

Falk Struckmann is just wonderful as Amfortas!

[@BenEmberley]

I heard him sing Amfortas in Covent Garden in 2007, and his monologue in Act 1 and his "Mein Vater" in Act 3 were two of the most painful things I ever heard. I'm sure they contributed to me being reduced to a crying wreck by the end of the Opera.....

[@AP-dd3xp]

Wow, what clear pictures...thank you!

[@stillstanding6031]

This entire production is a Keeper!

[@christacartwright9083]

Absolutely beautiful production of this wonderful opera! Musically, this is one of the very best renditions of it. Thank you so much for posting this!!

[@pliniussenior9131]

Il Parsifal compendia tutta la storia della musica quella precedente quella coeva e quella futura.Quindi si può dire che il Parsifal è la storia della musica dell’umanità.

[@Duketributechannel]

Esatto caro amico.... e.... in questo caso la parola " sublime" e' la piu' appropriata per questo capolavoro irripetibile e insuperabile donato a tutta la umanita'.

[@deborahalgra1607]

Danke vielmals, so kann ich Erinnerungen and der Aufführung die ich vor vielen Jahren in Bayreuth gesehen habe, wiedererleben. Sehr schöne Aufführung. Auch wunderbare Dekore und Inszenierung

[@bayreuthvinylman2616]

Muy bueno.. Muchas gracias

[@waynejones3870]

Beautiful

[@mikolas54]

!Mil gracias por subir, Mujerlechuga! Es una maravilla.

[@franckcoinchelin9862]

Cette production est devenue ma préférée !..

[@badhairdye]

Thank you very much for posting this! A happy and blessed spring to you!

[@gilmerlopezaguilar0119]

Millones de gracias mujer lechuga! Me alegro mucho de haber encontrado tu canal 😇🤩

[@tobias2061]

Super performance!!!

[@jaumecudinach1653]

Fantástica versión. Muchas gràcias!

[@Juan-hq5wq]

Beautiful!

[@singularislupus]

Great video! Audio out of this world. Subscribed!!!

[@BenEmberley]

When the bells came in at 4:01:31 , that's when it became really morbid, ominous, and frightening. When the Entrance at the back of the Hall came in to light, in the shape of a Coffin; a symbol of Death, it felt like an unstoppable march towards an unavoidable and inevitable fate, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. I really can't think of anything more terrifying......

[@wurstgitarre]

Thanks for uploading! - Danke fürs Hochladen. Eine wundervolle Aufführung und eine gute Inszenierung, die ohne den ganzen Firlefanz auskommt, den man heutzutage so manchmal gerade bei diesem Werk antrifft. Hans Sotin als Gurnemanz ist eine Wonne, Rest aber auch sehr gut!

[@ctr2090]

Sinopoli is great.

[@georgesclermont1911]

Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau opened the door to a more modern approach to Wagner; it was elegant, in good taste and is still a reference production. This magnificent production is in this spirit and respects the ethereal music of the composer. What happened to German production afterwards is unexplaineable. Vulgar, bad german taste has prevailed at Bayreuth and most German opera houses. If the good german singers had any value other than money, they would refuse to participate. But cash prevails.

[@Namuchat]

It was Wolfgang Wagner who opened the door to Boulez and Chéreau.

[@xepmallol3432]

Una de les darreres produccions com Déu mana del festival sagrat a Bayreuth. Cantants de la generació anterior als Zeppenfeld, Schager, Pankratova...

[@helmuthuber766]

Wie wahr! Heutzutage gibt’s nur Schizophrenie!

[@tomascalafcervera1081]

Impresionante version. Grande Kumdry

[@BenEmberley]

I'm friends with Linda Watson on FB ^_^

[@MrYorickJenkins]

Dreary instantly forgettable set, superb singing and awe inspiring orchestra

[@markokassenaar4387]

Thank God for the dreary set! So nice, a Parsifal without skyscrapers and video screens, no Kundry as the boss of a launderette or Gurnemanz singing with a Kalasjnikov hanging from his shoulders, or any of that pretentious bulls***. The calm and serenity of the stage gives space to the beauty and the message of the music. Meditation-like, almost. Just BEAUTIFUL.

[@kukka-karelica]

2:19:35 - 2:22:34 🥰👍

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

I see not even Wolfgang could resist the urge to raise the curtain earlier than indicated by his Grandfather. What is the point of showing Klingsor during the Prelude of Act II doing actually nothing? It tells no story. If your staging has nothing to add to the music, keep the curtain down, just like the composer wanted.

[@benstevinson764]

Sonnenmenschen Sacred Blood of the GRAIL ❣️🏆

[@ilirllukaci5345]

Wasn't it Rick Volker that was the host for the broadcasts of these live recorded performances over fm radio in the United States? I use to burn so much gas driving on rural highways in upstate NY on Saturday afternoons listening to these. Levine, Barenboim, Sinopoli, and Thielemann back in his pre-demagogue days. Wolfgang Wagner or no, I generally preferred the autumn colors to looking at most opera stage productions.

[@azcoyote2]

For once Wolfgang hits it out of the park BRAVO..

[@iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivy]

A performance comparable to the Knappertsbusch recording, but without all the coughing from the audience.

[@Jhon-eo5ix]

Ojalá estuviera subtitulada al español...

[@jorgecontreras939]

Esta magnífica gran obra solo falta traducir al español

[@thomask1424]

4' 28"! Approaching Goodall territory here. Lovely but languid.

[@agent3332]

No subtitles?

[@Listenerandlearner870]

Very fine in every aspect apart from excessively slow tempi at times especially from the arrival of the knights in Act 1.

[@wardropper]

Absolutely. Deep spiritual content doesn't have to mean turgid tempi. I like to think of Nature when it comes to finding an appropriate tempo for music. Nature is unhurried as she goes about her business on a universal scale, but neither does she waste time doing nothing - she keeps moving... Wagner, as a conductor himself, had something interesting to say about choosing a tempo: He said that if you're in doubt, just sing the music - even if you aren't a singer. Then you'll hit upon a workable tempo.

[@Edward-bm7vw]

This production seems mostly competent. None of that ridiculous Eurotrash I see nowadays

[@mikhailsungurov2472]

Hans Sotin sounds fantastic here at 60 years old. Also how tall is he he towers over a lot of people he looks like he's 6'4?

[@BenEmberley]

I'd say alongside Hans Hotter, he's probably the best Gurnemanz ever.

[@jorgecontreras939]

Me gustaría la tradujeran al español por favor gracias

[@patrickmoi5652]

Merci, c'est l'enregistrement du 2 Aout ?

[@Lamujerlechuga]

I think it´s the 20th august.

[@fiorenzointagliata3252]

1:35:00 1:41:20 primo finale

[@zeldamania]

Why are they in Emerald City?

[@justcody4615]

I know this is a tad late but the opening of Parsifal takes place in a deep forest. You can read along with the opera here www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11633/pg11633-images.html

[@Maximilian2808]

Would it be possible to add german subtitles?

[@Namuchat]

No, it's not.

[@VallaMusic]

leave it to Wagner to compose one of the most profound Christian operas and yet never once mention the name of Jesus

[@wardropper]

Well, after all, we're not children, needing everything to be spelled out for us... This isn't "Hänsel & Gretel"... I think it's okay to leave a little room for our own imagination to work with... The links with Jesus are surely obvious, and the glorious music tells its own story in any case.

[@asquietas]

That is if it is a 'Christian' opera. I'm more inclined to view Parsifal as more rooted in Buddhism which was a spiritual area Wagner was exploring at the time of its composition. As one researcher commented: "In Parsifal we find a veritable cornucopia of Buddhist images". There's further evidence in that during a period of convalescence in Zürich in 1855 Wagner sketched out an opera called Die Sieger (‘The Victors’) which was very much rooted in Buddhism but which was never completed. However, many of its themes were subsumed into Parsifal.

[@kskslslslsoooao]

Somebody, please add English subtitles.

[@MrYorickJenkins]

Why English subtitles? Why not Arabic or Italian or French subtitles while you are about it? If you need a translation, there are plenty of translations available online. I think this is one of the few Wagner performances which doesn't require subtitles. The words are extraordinarily clear and of course if you want to follow with the libretto in the German original or in translation into another language, you can.

[@herbertneubacher4757]

Nur großartig. Das waren Sternstunden in Bayreuth. Wohin sind sie entschwunden?!?

[@user-wg7yx1in8b]

Insgesamt wìe lang dauert es für die komplette Aufführung?

[@steveokinevo887]

16 Uhr bis 22 Uhr + 1 Stunde applaus in Bayreuth

[@aliegan2109]

1:45:00

[@justcody4615]

Right from the start theres some concern over sexual impurity in Parsifal. The witch is accused of having a sin which has disturbed the whole kingdom, and the king who has been wounded seeks the healing from a sacred bath while he laments the loss of his sacred spear. No wonder the womanizing Nietzsche was so disturbed by the play.

[@VallaMusic]

but not the womanizing Wagner ?

[@1968KWT]

Premiered #otd in 1882 🌺🌺🌺

[@ValzainLumivix]

4:14:40 Enthüllet den Gral

[@TheMrMoops]

1:14:11

[@WinrichNaujoks]

Keine Untertitel. Was soll das?

[@jaygbardo8781]

Kundries dies at the end..why do the change that....the James Levine Met production is still unsurpassed....true to the original, in costuming and set design....

[@helden-spaswenkoff1807]

Sinopoli, Sotin, awesome. Struckmann, Elming, Watson, Wlaschiha not my taste.

[@markharder3676]

And again, no subtitles? I'm sure the musicianship is great; but this is also a drama with you know, like words? Would it hurt to include at least an English translation? Thank you for this, but I'm sorry my German is just not up to this.

[@barrymorentz5190]

The conclusion is among the most sublime pieces of music ever written. It makes one wonder how so monstrously vile a person as Wagner could have written it.

[@fabptitpom]

What?

[@stillstanding6031]

Agreed. I once heard a concentration camp survivor say practically same thing. She said: "How could such a man write such beautiful music. God must be there somewhere." I've struggled with this contradiction (dichotomy) my whole adult life. I'm a clinical psychologist and I still can't sort out the fact that Wagner's final notes (here)come a close to God-given as anything ever written. Maybe they'll be an answer to this puzzle on "the other side".

[@andrewh273]

One has to compartmentalise Wagner the artist from Wagner the man, if possible.. but I also struggle

[@stillstanding6031]

@@severusbandaya You've been aptly named.

[@petermoney5554]

Wait a minute. So Wagner died how many years ago and you're still coming to his accomplishments to shit all over his grave? You people really hold a grudge huh? No wonder so many repeatedly come to the same exact conclusions about you that they have despite oceans of time and space between them. It's because you haven't changed one bit and you never will. 109 different countries and territories that you've been removed from and its everyone's fault except your own right? Insane. Ridiculous. Shameful!

[@helmuthuber766]

Eine sehr beeindruckende Aufführung! Da war die Welt noch in Ordnung und keine schizophrene Darstellung einer Wagner- wie heutzutage.

[@Namuchat]

Die Produktion war lange vor der Zeitenwende.

[@sabineb.5616]

This Parsifal sounds and looks absolutely gorgeous - but the direction is totally boring! It doesn't tell me anything interesting or spiritually relevant. They could as well have staged this opera as a concert and dispense with acting and costumes altogether. If I had been there, I would have listened to the great music - although this Parsifal is much too slow for my taste - and I would have looked now and then at the beautiful decoration. But most of the time I would have closed my eyes, and I would've left the Festspielhaus vaguely uplifted. However there's nothing challenging in these kinds of productions. I enjoyed Stefan Herheim's Parsifal much more. I certainly didn’t like everything, But Herheim managed to inject many interesting and fresh ideas into a work, whose twisted theology and somewhat outdated morals clash uncomfortably with Wagner's wonderful music. It's difficult these days to present Wagner's operas in interesting and challenging ways without descending into meaningless trash, which happens far too often since Katharina Wagner has taken over the leadership. Her choices haven't been inspired, and we have to put up with disasters like Valentin Schwarz's terribly misguided Ring! Isn't there someone like Patrice Chereau, who gave us a Ring, which is still wonderful after more than 40 years. As to Parsifal, it’s sad that it's impossible to find Christoph Schlingensief's production online. It wasn't very well received at the time - but it was certainly not boring, and Schlingensief's interpretation was far more intelligent than he has been given credit for.

[@Brewskin78]

Tolstoy was right, Wagner is not an artist, nor his "music" any better than cheap imitative pantomime.