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R. Wagner-Wagner: Parsifal

Wagner: Parsifal [SACD]
~ R. Wagner

$39.63

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Product Reviews

Parsifal is the second installment in Pentatone's ambitious project to record Wagner's ten important operas between in 2011 and 2013 in celebration of the bicentennial of his birth, featuring live concert performances with Marek Janowski leading Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Rundfunkchor Berlin. Janowski is an old hand at Wagner, having conducted the first (and very fine) digital recording of The Ring, and he brings a sure understanding and unified conception to Parsifal. One of its most immediately noticeable characteristics is its urgency, which essentially means faster tempos. His version at three and three-quarters hours is nearly a half hour shorter than classic recordings like Knappertsbusch's 1951 Bayreuth version and Solti's Decca release. What's gained is a momentum and sense of dramatic movement in an opera that's notorious for bogged-down performances. It also has the effect of making the opera seem more personal, even intimate at moments, because the momentum gives the dialogue between characters such immediacy. Janowski is sensitive to allowing the music plenty of space to unfold where it calls for evoking a timeless expansiveness, such as the scenes in the Hall of the Grail. The orchestra and chorus perform with seamless assurance and with a velvety sensuality. Janowski keeps textures transparent so that details of the scoring are easily audible, and that transparency also contributes to the intimacy of his reading. The exemplary vocal performances are uniformly very fine, and the singers bring an acute sense of drama to their roles and their interactions The recording is blessed with a wealth of expressive, resonant, tonally sumptuous, and clearly differentiated low voices, including Evgeny Nikitin as Amfortas, Dimitry Ivashchenko as Titurel, Franz-Josef Selig as Gurnemanz, and Eike Wilm Schulte as Klingsor. Christian Elsner is a passionate Parsifal and his ringing tenor is heroic and robust. As Kundry, Michelle DeYoung sings with warmth and poignancy and is especially effective in her rich lower register. The sound of the hybrid multichannel SACD is immaculate and spacious. ~ Stephen Eddins, Rovi

Classical Data

225:52
Opera
Romantic
Marek Janowski
Poland
German-Polish conductor Marek Janowski has forged a solid, mostly European-based career by largely disengaging himself from the fast-track musical life. Disturbed by the dominance of regietheater in Europe, he vacated the opera pit in the early '90s to concentrate on his symphonic repertory. In the new millennium, he assumed directorships of two second-tier, but potentially splendid orchestras: one in Germany, the other in Monte Carlo, seeking in each instance to expand their repertories and build new audiences. After completing his studies, Janowski applied himself to the nineteenth century regimen that had produced the best-prepared conductors. Serving as a r p titeur in Aachen for a year, he moved to a similar position in Cologne for two seasons. In two years at D sseldorf, beginning in 1964, he was afforded the opportunity to conduct some performances. After returning to Cologne as first Kapellmeister, he was engaged by Rolf Liebermann in Hamburg. Later, during directorships in Freiburg and Dortmund, Janowski appeared as guest conductor in Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. In the late '70s, Janowski began to appear in American theaters, notably the Metropolitan Opera, and in Chicago and San Francisco. In 1984, he accepted the directorship of the Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique in Paris (later known as the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France). During his 16 years with the Paris orchestra, Janowski raised performance standards and broadened his own repertory, acquiring considerable fluency in a variety of French works. Aside from four years when he also served as music director for Cologne's G rzenich-Orchester, Janowski devoted himself to Paris, all the while paring down his opera activities. Appreciation for certain French composers, such as Messiaen, Roussel, d'Indy, and Dutilleux, has informed his programming choices for Monte Carlo. With the Dresden Philharmonic, Janowski's other 2001 appointment, a long-term relationship hinged upon the promised construction of a new concert hall. Although Janowski stated that he might consider future opera engagements were he permitted his choice of director, his present loss to opera is a profound one. In 2008, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin offered Janowski the position of Artistic Director for life, after serving six years in that position. He had also joined Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as Musical Director in 2005, having filled similar positions with Orchestre Philharmonie de Monte-Carlo (2000-2005) and the Dresdener Philharmonie (2001-2003). His discography holds estimable recordings of Fidelio, Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau, Penderecki's The Devils of Loudon, Wagner's Ring, Euryanthe, Oberon, and Hindemith's Die Harmonie der Welt. In addition to the symphonies of Roussel, Janowski's orchestral recordings include Lutoslawski's Concerto for orchestra and Saint-Sa ns' Symphony No. 3. ~ Erik Eriksson, Rovi
Parsifal is the second installment in Pentatone's ambitious project to record Wagner's ten important operas between in 2011 and 2013 in celebration of the bicentennial of his birth, featuring live concert performances with Marek Janowski leading Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Rundfunkchor Berlin. Janowski is an old hand at Wagner, having conducted the first (and very fine) digital recording of The Ring, and he brings a sure understanding and unified conception to Parsifal. One of its most immediately noticeable characteristics is its urgency, which essentially means faster tempos. His version at three and three-quarters hours is nearly a half hour shorter than classic recordings like Knappertsbusch's 1951 Bayreuth version and Solti's Decca release. What's gained is a momentum and sense of dramatic movement in an opera that's notorious for bogged-down performances. It also has the effect of making the opera seem more personal, even intimate at moments, because the momentum gives the dialogue between characters such immediacy. Janowski is sensitive to allowing the music plenty of space to unfold where it calls for evoking a timeless expansiveness, such as the scenes in the Hall of the Grail. The orchestra and chorus perform with seamless assurance and with a velvety sensuality. Janowski keeps textures transparent so that details of the scoring are easily audible, and that transparency also contributes to the intimacy of his reading. The exemplary vocal performances are uniformly very fine, and the singers bring an acute sense of drama to their roles and their interactions The recording is blessed with a wealth of expressive, resonant, tonally sumptuous, and clearly differentiated low voices, including Evgeny Nikitin as Amfortas, Dimitry Ivashchenko as Titurel, Franz-Josef Selig as Gurnemanz, and Eike Wilm Schulte as Klingsor. Christian Elsner is a passionate Parsifal and his ringing tenor is heroic and robust. As Kundry, Michelle DeYoung sings with warmth and poignancy and is especially effective in her rich lower register. The sound of the hybrid multichannel SACD is immaculate and spacious. ~ Stephen Eddins, Rovi

Details

R. Wagner
Wagner: Parsifal
Classical & Opera
Opera / Operetta
28 February 2012
Sacd Radio-Sinfoniorchester Und Cho Sacd ~ Discs:4
Pentatone ( PNTT )
SACD
5186401
Yes (additional shipping cost)
827949040160

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