Wagner: Parsifal

Wagner: Parsifal

Wagner coined a blockbuster word to describe <I>Parsifal</I>'s genre--<I>Bühnenweihfestspiel,</I> or a "festival play to consecrate the stage." In this, his last work, Wagner returns to the Christian mythology that occupied his imagination earlier in <I>Tannhäuser</I> and <I>Lohengrin.</I> But <I>Parsifal</I> is fundamentally different from the earlier more simplistic, heroic works. <I>Parsifal</I> tries to put the church into the theater, instead of simply giving church themes a theatrical dressing. <I>Parsifal</I> is probably the least accessible Wagnerian opus--the dreamy 19th-century view of Christian mysticism being especially hard for a 20th-century intellect to come to terms with. But those who invest in the effort of understanding the score will be rewarded with a sense of the mystic communion. Though Kollo is sometimes overwrought as the Grail Knight, Fischer-Dieskau is an extremely pitiable and sympathetic Amfortas, and a generally excellent cast carries the day with Frick as Gurnemanz being the highlight. Solti conducts the Wiener Philaharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic) with mystic solemnity. <I>--Christian C. Rix </I>