Records kmong the great
Rodney %Ines
;Until this year, complete recordtrigs of Parsifal (there are three) have been put together from live Performances at Bayreuth, as if Perpetuating the composer's expressed desire for this very special Work to remain the prerogative of the theatre for which it was written. The Bayreuth sound, clear, a touch clinical perhaps, the matchless festival chorus and the conducting of he one and only Ilans Knappertsbusch made the first two recordings (1951 and 1962) as definitive as the meaninglessness of that adjective would al...low. The latest recording (Decca oT 550-4), then, the first to be
made in a studio, faces formidable competition. It emerges triumphant.
The advantages of live theatre recordings are obvious: sustained dramatic impulse, theatrical atmosphere, etc — qualities that make the same company's Bayreuth Flying Dutchman so compelling. But the excitement in Parsifal is spiritual rather than physical, • and the playing and singing in this new recording emphasises this very quality with a direct acoustic, as luscious as only Decca know how and yet absolutely clear (listen, for instance, to the semi-quaver triplets in the bass during the Act 1 interlude), continuously allowing for the sort of detailed expressive nuance that is so important in the work and does not always emerge from a live performance. And with Sir Georg Solti conducting there is no lack of dramatic urgency when it is needed.
There are moments, I feel, when he misses the last ounce of spiritual intensity that characterised Knappertsbusch's readings, or indeed that sense of physical anguish brought about by consciousness of sin that Goodall sustained in the 1971 Covent Garden revival, but such moments are very few, confined mainly to the preludes to the first and last acts. There are many others, indeed whole passages, where Solti matches both. The long, slow first scene of the third act is one, and the first Grail scene and the Kundry-Parsifal duet are others. And Solti can of course cope with such markings as vivace and molt° animato that are scarcely to be found in Goodall's repertoire. Solti also has the advantage of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, who respond to the endless subtlety and sensuous delicacy of the score with burning eloquence. The sound quality throughout is magnificent.
Solti also has the advantage of an ideal cast. Gottlob Frick's authority is well known; what I did not expect was his extraordinarily poetic delivery of much of Gurnemanz's music, and the combination of the two results, I believe, is one of the great recorded performances of our time.
Fischer-Dieskau for the most part submerges the very strong personality that can obtrude betvveen a role and its audience in an agonised portrayal of Amfortas, and uses the text with the care of a great lieder singer. Christa Ludwig seduces brilliantly in Act 2, and manages the blood-curdling howls and shrieks to which Kundry is largely limited elsewhere without the slightest hint of
embarrassment. Rene K olio sounds fresh and convincing in the title role. The Vienna Chorus stands comparison with that of Bayreuth, and the Vienna Boys' Choir follow the markings to the letter with great effect. Only a hammy Klingsor (Zoltan Kelemen) and a slightly shrill first flower maiden (Lucia Popp) are less than ideal. The rest of the maidens, mostly from the Royal Opera, project an image of highly scented sensuality thoroughly worthy of St John's Wood.
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