Knappertsbusch's Parsifal

[Lilas Pastia]

I'm interested in one of Kna's Bayreuth Parsifal. I notice there are quite a few versions floating around. Just at BRO I can see these:

Wagner, Parsifal. (Martha Modl, Ramon Vinay, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Josef Greindl, Toni Blankenheim, Hans Hotter et al. Bayreuth/ Knappertsbusch. Wallhall, Rec. 1956)

Wagner, Parsifal. (Martha Modl, Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Josef Greindl, Gustav Neidlinger, Theo Adam et al. Bayreuth/ Knappertsbusch. Archipel, Rec.1954)

Wagner, Parsifal. (London, Van Mill, Weber, Windgassen, Uhde, Modl et al. Bayreuth/ Knappertsbusch. Quadromania, Rec.1951)

Wagner, Parsifal. (London, Modl, Weber, Windgassen, Uhde, Bohme et al. Bayreuth/ Knappertsbusch. Archipel, Rec.1952)

Much the same cast is used in these versions from 1951-1956, so obviously the interpretation must be quite similar from one to the other. I'm wondering mostly about the sound. Since these recordings are old and live, I'd like to know if there's any one that is better, or that I should avoid ..........

Of course, discussion on the artistic merits of Kna's Parsifal (conductor and cast) is welcomed!!

[mahlertitan]

wish granted:


Parsifal (1951)
(George London, baritone / Martha Modl, soprano / Ludwig Weber, baritone / Wolfgang Windgassen, tenor / Bayreuth Festival Orchestra / Bayreuth Festival Chorus / Hans Knappertsbusch, conductor )

Act I Part 1: Prelude
Act I Part 1: He! Ho!
Act I Part 1: Seht dort, die wilde Reiterin! 
Act I Part 1: Recht so! Habt Dank! 
Act I Part 1: He! du da!


want more?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The 1951 is rightfully acclaimed as one of the best Knappertsbusch Parsifals out there.

It is also one of the best recorded as Decca had produced the set.

Interestingly, however, Decca has left this Parsifal to other companies to reissue in the CD era (officially, that is). First Teldec and most recently Naxos.

I'd look to these reissues first as Quadromania is another label of dubious origins...probably pirate with fourth generation transfers producing less than optimal sonics.

[Sean]

I've also heard the Fischer-Dieskau one and it's well prepared enough, with much thought gone into the interpretation, down to a bar-by-bar level. However for spirituality and overall intensity Karajan remains quite in a class of his own; Levine is also stronger in the weirdly resolving harmonies of the Good Friday music- the climax of the piece.

[Michel]

Levine is useless, and Knappertsbusch might be a little overated but still quite good. I have the Naxos transfer from 51.

I still think, though haven't surveyed everything, Karajan is best.

His cast is wonderful, though not the most famous, with fabulous performances from Uhl and Wachter, the latter being particularly outstanding.

I would stear clear of the recent Domingo one, not thrilling in anyway.

Does anyone have a view ont he parsifal sung in Italian with Christoff?

http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//222389.htm

Dunno which transfer to get - possibly Opera D'Oro as I love that label. I have heard clips from cdconnection and it sounds great!!!!

[Lilas Pastia]

Thanks for the replies and the links. I'm only interested in the Knappertsbusches though - I'm already familiar with most of the stereo versions.

One of the main reasons of my interest is the presence of Martha Mödl in all of them .

[David Zalman]

The Kna 1962 Bayreuth Parsifal is considered by most Wagnerians, myself included, as not only Kna's best, but the best Parsifal on record, bar none.  Apart from the performance itself which is positively transcendent, the audio beautifully captures the acoustic of the Festspielhaus.

[PerfectWagnerite]

The Kna 1962 Bayreuth Parsifal is considered by most Wagnerians, myself included, as not only Kna's best, but the best Parsifal on record, bar none.  Apart from the performance itself which is positively transcendent, the audio beautifully captures the acoustic of the Festspielhaus.

Completely true, if you own one Wagner opera let it be this one.

[Lilas Pastia]

I agree on a general basis, but its Kundry is not to my taste at all. Mödl is one of my favourite wagnerian ladies, that's why I focused on those. Hearing the excerpts provided by MahlerTitan only reinforced my idea. What a 'face' in that voice! For me, Kundry is the most interesting character in the opera. I find the others (the men) slightly one-dimensional in comparison.

[Drasko]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Knappertsbusch or Parsifal but it has Mödl and looks interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MX7TDQ

[mjwal]

I am just resuscitating this thread because I have only just looked at it and I am a Mödl fan. The Krauss Parsifal is superb, with Mödl in her best voice, I find. I taped it off German radio years ago - the sound is serviceable and I can imagine that a good new transfer from the original tapes would sound better - they say Krauss's '53 Ring has been much improved by some recent remastering. Of course, it would be ideal if the Keilberth Ring series of the same year with Mödl as Brünnhilde were remastered too, where she is wonderful. - She is expressive as ever in the Oedipus Rex but has difficulty with some of Stravinsky's pseudo-barockery. It is also a great pity that Archipel did not use the interpolated narrative by Cocteau himself as on the CBS LP - but it is a German company, I believe.

[ccar]

I am just resuscitating this thread because I have only just looked at it and I am a Mödl fan. The Krauss Parsifal is superb, with Mödl in her best voice, I find. ...

. Of course, it would be ideal if the Keilberth Ring series of the same year with Mödl as Brünnhilde were remastered too, where she is wonderful.

I'm also a Martha Modl fan. With her you never get the kind of flashy "voice" some may look for. Modl intensity is all in the "acting" - how she puts herself in the singing, projecting a dramatic but very humane condition.

I never listened to the more recent Andromeda release but the sound of my Melodram Keilberth/Modl 1953 Ring is quite good. And for the Keilberth/Modl followers the 1955 "second cycle" is also a must.

[mjwal]

It's going to be a must with me if I can live off lentils and carrots for a month (as a poor ol' pensioner)
But I would be very interested to hear whether her voice has withstood two years of the kind of thing she demanded from it . I think she was an autodidact, too, a "natural-born" singer. When I can find a copy of her autobiography at a reduced price on Amazon or elsewhere I shall know more - apparently it is quite a delight. Do you know the film in which Werner Schroeter had her and two other divas (Cerquetti and Gorr) on the couch, as it were, together with appearances by other notables of the operatic world plus Isabelle Huppert, Love's Debris? I've seen at least part of it on German TV, hilarious and/or weird.

[Mandryka]

I'm interested in one of Kna's Bayreuth Parsifal. I notice there are quite a few versions floating around. Just at BRO I can see these:

Much the same cast is used in these versions from 1951-1956, so obviously the interpretation must be quite similar from one to the other. I'm wondering mostly about the sound. Since these recordings are old and live, I'd like to know if there's any one that is better, or that I should avoid ..........

Of course, discussion on the artistic merits of Kna's Parsifal (conductor and cast) is welcomed!!

Flabbergasted that you left out my favourite - the 1964  one with Vickers, Hotter, Stewart and Ericson as Kundry.

There are some marvelous moments in this. I think it was Wieland Wagner's. Vickers is hors concours when he sings "Amfortas! Die Wunde! Die Wunde! Sie brennt mir hier zur Seite!". And extraordinary in the final act. I believe in the production he led Kundry right up to the shrine -- she didn't die. I think it was a sort of feminist gesture.

Vickers does a magical thing with his final syllable -- the word "schrein" in the line "enthüllet den Gral, öffnet den Schrein!" He lets the note continue for a very long time, gradually letting it blend in with the orchestra and fade away.

I remember hearing an interview with Birgit Nielsen where she said that Vickers' Parsifal was one of the two opera performances she had seen which so overwhelmed her she cried. (The other was Vickers' Canio I think)

The production was Knappertsbusch's last Parsifal. There was no dove in the final act. This annoyed HK, who basically said that he couldn't conduct the final bars properly unless he could see a dove.

So I believe they got someone in the orchestra pit to wave a picture of a dove around -- for Kna's eye only.

Anyway -- that's the story I heard once!


Sound -- well it's not great, but it could be worse.

[ccar]

But I would be very interested to hear whether her voice has withstood two years of the kind of thing she demanded from it .

Apart from the mythical 1951 Parsifal, and looking only at the Kna versions with Martha Modl as Kundry, the less known reincarnations in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1959 are also available with reasonable good sound. And they may all have some appeal for the seasoned listener.

The 1952 and 1954 performances are particularly interesting. In 1952 the cast is almost identical to 1951, the sound is less defined but for me the whole performance is not at all inferior. Perhaps less solemn and symbolic but somehow more livelier and dramatic. In 1954 Kna's orchestral tension is as strong and intact and the addiction of Hans Hotter as Amfortas and Josef Greindl as Gurnemanz give particular weight and consistency to their characters.

And, in my view, the 1952 and 1954 Martha Modl's Kundry is at least as impressive as in 1951 (or even 1949, her first Kundry).

I think she was an autodidact, too, a "natural-born" singer. When I can find a copy of her autobiography at a reduced price on Amazon or elsewhere I shall know more - apparently it is quite a delight. Do you know the film in which Werner Schroeter had her and two other divas (Cerquetti and Gorr) on the couch, as it were, together with appearances by other notables of the operatic world plus Isabelle Huppert, Love's Debris? I've seen at least part of it on German TV, hilarious and/or weird.

Yes. Fantastic. Saw it also on TV.

There is also an interesting Martha Modl 1997 interview, included in the Melodram 1953 Keilberth Ring. There she speaks briefly about her beginnings: Modl loved to sing since very young and began as an amateur. Her first dream was the Operetta. Later she took some singing lessons but only for 6 months, while working to survive during WWII.  Engaged for the first time with 31yo, for secondary roles in a small village company, at Remscheid, and it was there she was first noticed.  Martha Modl confesses the debt to Furtwangler and Wieland Wagner, but considered Keilberth "spiritually closer" to her. 


                 "Art flows out of human feeling. Technique alone cannot do everything."  Martha Modl


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49gS-lUe88U



 

[ccar]

... the 1964  one with Vickers, Hotter, Stewart and Ericson as Kundry.

Vickers is hors concours ...

Agreed.

Vickers does a magical thing with his final syllable -- the word "schrein" in the line "enthüllet den Gral, öffnet den Schrein!" He lets the note continue for a very long time, gradually letting it blend in with the orchestra and fade away.

Vickers again, some years later. The same intelligence and intensity of expression ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma6VNvfAeSQ

And an alternative Vickers's Parsifal is the recently uncovered Goodall ROH 1971. 





 

[ccar]

I agree on a general basis, but its Kundry is not to my taste at all. Mödl is one of my favourite wagnerian ladies, that's why I focused on those. Hearing the excerpts provided by MahlerTitan only reinforced my idea. What a 'face' in that voice! For me, Kundry is the most interesting character in the opera. I find the others (the men) slightly one-dimensional in comparison.

As you, I also defend Martha Modl's Kundry as unique. But if, as I,  you have interest in exploring the richness of Kundry's character you may also be interested in Waltraud Meier. She is one of the living artist/singers I most admire. I had the privilege of listening to her on stage and when not destroyed by the staging directors she can be an actress of the highest caliber. Her Kundry (like other roles - see her recent La Scala Isolde) will stand as one of the most intelligent and expressives ever. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlGSGSTf43c&feature=related





           

[kishnevi]

As you, I also defend Martha Modl's Kundry as unique. But if, as I,  you have interest in exploring the richness of Kundry's character you may also be interested in Waltraud Meier. She is one of the living artist/singers I most admire. I had the privilege of listening to her on stage and when not destroyed by the staging directors she can be an actress of the highest caliber. Her Kundry (like other roles - see her recent La Scala Isolde) will stand as one of the most intelligent and expressives ever. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlGSGSTf43c&feature=related





         

Meier is the Kundry on the Thielemann/Domingo recording.

Moving slightly OT--my introduction to Wagner was a Knappertsbusch recording of Meistersinger  on LP--now, alas, gone with all my other LPs.   Is there a Knappertsbusch  Meistersinger on CD anyone could suggest?

[Sergeant Rock]

Meier is the Kundry on the Thielemann/Domingo recording.

And also on the Barenboim/Jerusalem recording (my favorite Parsifal along with Karajan and Kna '64).

Moving slightly OT--my introduction to Wagner was a Knappertsbusch recording of Meistersinger  on LP--now, alas, gone with all my other LPs.   Is there a Knappertsbusch  Meistersinger on CD anyone could suggest?

I can't help you. I don't have a Kna Meistersinger. But I notice JPC has the '52 Bayreuth performance on Archipel for only €9.99. Unless anyone in the know has a reason not to buy it, I may grab it.

Sarge

[ccar]

Moving slightly OT--my introduction to Wagner was a Knappertsbusch recording of Meistersinger  on LP--now, alas, gone with all my other LPs.   Is there a Knappertsbusch  Meistersinger on CD anyone could suggest?

There are, AFAIK, four Kna's Meistersinger recordings available. The more widely praised is the Decca studio 1950-1951, with the Wiener Philarmoniker and Paul Schoffler as Hans Sachs. The other 3 are all live recordings - Bayreuth 1952 with Otto Edelman, Bayerische Staatsoper1955 with Ferdinand Frantz and Bayreuth 1960 with Joseph Greindl - and, for different reasons, I also can find many interest in these live versions.

Not going into preference details the 1950-51 studio was probably the one you had on LP and maybe you will be pleased to remember it. I still have the "Decca Historic" edition but there is also a recent remastering by Naxos.