Thread: Productions you WISH were available on DVD and Blu-ray

I'll start things off with a production I haven't seen but would more than any other like to have released on DVD: Stefan Herheim's Bayreuth Parsifal.

Premiering in 2008 (to replace the much reviled Christoph Schlingensief production), Herheim's version was in its own way just as radical, but was nonetheless met with overwhelming praise. The director provided his usual layering of multiple interpretive levels, that tendency to try to do too much which is at once his most fascinating, frustrating, and endearing trait. As Per-Erik Skramstad, quoted on the Wagneropera.net blog, points out, the production variously explores "Parsifal's development as a child and later young man, the history of Germany from 1870 to the 1950's, [and] the history of the Bayreuth Festival in the same period." In superimposing all these elements, Herheim has created "a many-layered, ambiguous, interesting and very beautiful production," mixing "irony with sincerity and kitsch with heartbreaking tragedy" to create "a veritable dream world on stage."

The description above and images below remind me very much of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's fascinating 1982 film of Parsifal--another work that meditated on Wagner's work within its multi-leveled cultural context.

Herheim's production is still in the Bayreuth rotation (and will be performed through the rest of this month), so there may still be hope of it being filmed for DVD. Perhaps we can pressure Opus Arte, who now distributes Bayreuth DVDs, to negotiate a deal so that this important production can be seen by the world.

Some more images of Herheim's Parsifal:

Goes without saying that I'd like a Dessay Lucia -- any date, any production, just give me one please! The recent Met production is finally on Met Player but I'd like to have one for my personal collection.

I'd also like the Birgit Nilsson Salome that existed on VHS (and currently survives in various clips on YT).

I'd like the recent Bieito Fidelio but I know it won;t happen.

More Parsifals, after reading Andrew Richards' blog:

Parsifal in the woods, Romeo Castelucci at La Monnaie:






Blood and guts Parsifal, Calixto Bieito, Stuttgart.

Also high on my wish list: Robert Carsen's 2008 Munich Ariadne auf Naxos. This minimalist production, featuring Diana Damrau and Adrianne Pieczonka, was a popular and critical success. There was talk of filming it at the time, and the production is still in circulation, having played at the Deutsche Oper Berlin earlier this year. But I don't know whether a DVD is on the horizon.

Originally Posted by amfortas

I'm with you on the Dessay Lucia. As discussed in another thread, the chances of her Met performance making it to DVD are greatly diminished by the existing DVD of the same production featuring some *Russian* girl. Sigh.

Thankfully!

This Parsifal and this Ariadne do look very interesting. Fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by Almaviva

This Parsifal .....look(s) very interesting. Fingers crossed.

Which one, Bieito or Castelucci?

Sorry. Herheim's.
I actually saw the Castelucci online. Can't say I liked it (although there are boobs)