Wagner: Parsifal / Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev, conductor; Gary Lehman, Parsifal; Violeta Urmana, Kundry; René Pape, Gurnemanz; Evgeny Nikitin, Amfortas; Alexei Tanovitski, Titurel; Nikolai Putilin, Klingsor; Mariinsky Orchestra & Chorus

Wagner: Parsifal

The Mariinsky label’s first recording of an opera by Wagner features an exceptional international cast led by René Pape, Gary Lehman and Violeta Urmana.
The Mariinsky Theatre has a long association with Wagner and his music. He conducted at the Theatre and in 1863 it was the location for the first performance of music from his as yet unstaged Ring Cycle. Over the past decade Valery Gergiev has become a frequent conductor of Wagner’s operas, establishing a formidable reputation in the repertoire. Wagner described his final complete opera as a ‘A Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage’ and the work has always sparked controversy, mixing moral and religious themes with music of irresistible sumptuousness. The opera was inspired by Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Arthurian poem Parzifal. Yet despite the story’s overt Christian imagery, Wagner also draws on ideas from other beliefs including Buddhism. The ‘harmonic experiments’ that he adopted for his previous opera Tristan und Isolde are refined to create an astonishing soundworld.
Recording took place between 5 and 13 June 2009 at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, including a live concert performance. It was recorded in high resolution multi-channel DSD by award-winning producer James Mallinson and engineered by John Newton and Dirk Sobotka.
Parsifal is the fourth opera to be recorded by the Mariinsky label. Previous releases have included Shostakovich’s The Nose, Shchedrin’s The Enchanted Wanderer and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, which have collected numerous international awards. The Nose, the label’s debut release, also received two Grammy Award nominations.
René Pape and Gary Lehman join Gergiev for concerts in Baden-Baden during July. In August Pape will sing in performances of Elektra in Salzburg and joins Gergiev again in New York for Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera in October. He also sings the role of Wotan in Wagner’s Die Walküre at La Scala in December. Violeta Urmana and Gary Lehman star in a production of Tristan und Isolde conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen which will visit various venues in Switzerland, Germany and the UK during September. Urmana also performs recitals in Barcelona and Berlin with Daniel Barenboim during October.
Reviews:
Disc of the Month - Performance ***** Recording ***** ‘What really distinguishes this, though, is Gergiev. His reading is vivid and luminous, generally expansive but with fluidly shifting tempos, unashamedly guilty of theatrical excitement. Gergiev, with the vigorous Mariinsky chorus and orchestra, achieves a glowing translucency in both choral and orchestral textures’ BBC Music Magazine (UK)
‘Above all, this is Gergiev’s Parsifal and it is the superlatively good playing of the Mariinsky Orchestra that, with Pape’s gloriously sung Gurnemanz, makes this new set essential listening for Wagnerians’ International Recording Review (UK)
***** ‘Gergiev presumably wanted to record a Parsifal that measured up to the international competition … and he's certainly succeeded’ The Guardian (UK)
‘mesmerising … The cast is outstanding, with impressive performances from the brilliant René Pape and Evgeny Nikitin … a landmark for Gergiev’ The Observer (UK)
editor’s choice Gramophone (UK)
CD of the week BBC Radio 3 CD Review (UK)
‘marvelously theatrical … The spiritual moments glow in a way that is rarely achieved, and the Mariinsky Orchestra plays magnificently from start to finish … Besides Gergiev’s leadership and the orchestra’s playing, the other crucial thing about this set is René Pape’s Gurnemanz. His attention never flags, and he looms over the proceedings as rightly he should; wisdom, piety, and justice never sounded this good. Violeta Urmana’s Kundry, like all of her work, is vocally remarkable: there’s not a weak spot in her voice, even in this difficult-to-cast part’ ClassicsToday (US)

Price: $69.98