[Itullian]

What recordings of Parsifal do you have and which ones are your favorites?
Thanks :tiphat:

 

[Andrew Kenneth]

I have the following =>

cd:
Gui 50, Kna 51, Kna 52, Krauss 53, Kna 54, Kna 56, Kna 57, Kna 58, Kna 59, Kna 60, Karajan 60, Kna 61, Kna 62, Kna 64, Boulez 70, Karajan 80

SACD:
Janowski 11

Blu-ray:
Pappano, Haenchen

(favorites in bold)

 

[wkasimer]

Fritz Busch (Buenos Aires 1936)
Bayreuth 1951
Bayreuth 1962
Bayreuth 1964
(a couple of other Bayreuth recordings from the 50's that are in piles at the office)
Kempe (ROH 1959)
Levine Bayreuth (Philips)
Levine Met studio (DG)
Levine Met 1985
Karajan DG
Kubelik
Boulez DG
Solti
Thielemann
Armin Jordan
Barenboim
(and a few dozen live performances from various sources)

Favorites? Probably Kubelik, Bayreuth 1962 and 1964, and the Met 1985 with Rysanek, Vickers, and Moll.

 

[OffPitchNeb]

Fritz Busch (Buenos Aires 1936)
Bayreuth 1951
Bayreuth 1962
Bayreuth 1964
(a couple of other Bayreuth recordings from the 50's that are in piles at the office)
Kempe (ROH 1959)
Levine Bayreuth (Philips)
Levine Met studio (DG)
Levine Met 1985
Karajan DG
Kubelik
Boulez DG
Solti
Thielemann
Armin Jordan
Barenboim
(and a few dozen live performances from various sources)

Favorites? Probably Kubelik, Bayreuth 1962 and 1964, and the Met 1985 with Rysanek, Vickers, and Moll.

I have been curious about this set for a while since it seems to sit high on the recommendation list of aficionados. But 1985 is very late for Vickers and Rysanek who were almost 60!

It is available on Youtube. I am checking it out.

 

[SixFootScowl]

Only Barenboim unless I also count three Opera Depot sets. I need more, I think.

 

[Barbebleu]

Barenboim
Bayreuth 1951 to 1973 (inclusive except for 1955.) 75, 76 and 77, 85, 98 and 2012
Buenos Aires 36 and 69
Covent Garden 71, 73 and 2013
Frankfurt 76
Gergiev
Goodall
Hamburg 76
Karajan
Kegel
Köln 49
Kubelik
Milan 60
Moralt 49
Munich 64, 77
New York 54, 66
Paris 54, 76
Rome 50, 70
Salzburg 2013
Solti
Stockholm 76
Thielemann
Venice 70

Th-th-that’s all folks!:lol:

 

[The Conte]

Gui 50 (Not a first choice, but essential to have Callas as Kundry)
Kna 52 (A better performance than the more famous 51 and in better sound)
Kna 56 (Terrible sound, but I wanted Fischer-Dieskau as Amfortas)
Kna 64 (For Vickers' Parsifal, the sound is very good and Ericson is a great Kundry)
Barenboim (Superb and the best IMO of the ones in digital sound)

So that's not many, I have thought about getting the 62 Kna set and perhaps the Thielemann (for another with Meier as Kundry). I think this is one of the most difficult operas to conduct well and only really Kna and Barenboim do it for me. Solti and Karajan often don't do it for me in Wagner, the former concentrates too much on the drama and so breaks up the music's architectural unity, whereas the latter concentrates too much on the beauty of the music and therefore lacks narrative cohesion. I'm also very fussy about who undertakes the role of Kundry. I like Modl and Meier, but Callas, Ericson, Dalis and Ludwig are good too. I have Ludwig's excerpts in the role under Solti in her DG box set and I even have an act two with Flagstad and Melchior.

N.

 

[RobertJTh]

Agreed on the Barenboim, it's a prime recommendation in great sound. Though those LOUD screams by Meier always startle me, and I suppose the neighbors as well, who must think every Good Friday someone is murdered in my house.
Seriously, it's a minor, non-essential effect, I don't see why some recordings make it the loudest sound that comes from any of the singers.

Apart from that I've got Kna '51 and '62, Kegel 1975 (fast & furious), and on DVD: Barenboim/Kupfer Berlin (great) and Levine/Met (meh).

 

[Reichstag aus LICHT]

I love Parsifal, amassing dozens of recordings over the years and, whilst I have many favourites, I keep returning to Knappertsbusch 1962. It was the first recording of the work I owned, and I played it over and over again. His 1964 recording is equally as good.

Honourable mentions to Solti, Kubelik, Karajan, Barenboim, Boulez and Goodall - the latter for sentimental reasons, as it was the first production I saw live. I don't think it was my first-ever Parsifal, period, as I'd seen Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film in the cinema, and I think that was before I saw it on stage. Either way, a good "sleeper" recording to check out is the soundtrack to that film, conducted by Armin Jordan with an excellent cast (Reiner Goldberg, Yvonne Minton, Robert Lloyd and Aage Haugland).

 

[Tsaraslondon]

Barenboim
Bayreuth 1951 to 1973 (inclusive except for 1955.) 75, 76 and 77, 85, 98 and 2012
Buenos Aires 36 and 69
Covent Garden 71, 73 and 2013
Frankfurt 76
Gergiev
Goodall
Hamburg 76
Karajan
Kegel
Köln 49
Kubelik
Milan 60
Moralt 49
Munich 64, 77
New York 54, 66
Paris 54, 76
Rome 50, 70
Salzburg 2013
Solti
Stockholm 76
Thielemann
Venice 70

Th-th-that's all folks!:lol:

I don't think I've ever had that many recordings of anything. When do you find the time to listen to them all? After all, Parsifal is a very long opera.

I've never been one for collecting multiple recordings of the same work, except in a few cases, so I only have two recordings. Gui (for Callas) and Karajan.

 

[kineno]

CD:

Busch ‘36
Bodanzky’38
Moralt’48
Gui ‘50
Stiedry’54
Knappertsbusch ‘51,‘52, 54, 56, 58, 62, 64
Krauss ‘53
Boulez ‘70
Goodall ‘71
Solti ‘72
Kubelik ‘80
Levine (Bayreuth) ‘85
Barenboim ‘91
Thielemann ‘06

SACD:

Gergiev’10
Van Zweden ‘11

DVD:

Stein ‘82
A. Jordan ‘82 (Syberberg film)
Barenboim ‘92
Levine ‘93
Otvös ‘05
Haitink ‘07
Haenchen ‘11

Blu-ray:

Sinopoli ‘98
Nagano ‘04
Fischer ‘12
Thielemann ‘13
Gatti’13
Pappano’13
Barenboim ‘15
Haenchen ‘16

Various other downloads.

But I’m not obsessive.

 

[Barbebleu]

I don't think I've ever had that many recordings of anything. When do you find the time to listen to them all? After all, Parsifal is a very long opera.

I've never been one for collecting multiple recordings of the same work, except in a few cases, so I only have two recordings. Gui (for Callas) and Karajan.

Did I say that I'd listened to them all?:lol: Probably about 66% of them though. Still got a few of the outliers to listen to like Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, a couple of the Covent Garden ones, a few Bayreuths.

 

[wkasimer]

Barenboim (Superb and the best IMO of the ones in digital sound)

A great second act, and van Dam is fantastic as Amfortas, but Matthias Hölle is a very, very dull Gurnemanz.

 

[wkasimer]

I have been curious about this set for a while since it seems to sit high on the recommendation list of aficionados. But 1985 is very late for Vickers and Rysanek who were almost 60!

It is available on Youtube. I am checking it out.

Rysanek was never the most steady of vocalists, but she kept what she had for quite a while. Vickers maintained a pretty high vocal standard until the day he retired.

 

[OffPitchNeb]

Rysanek was never the most steady of vocalists, but she kept what she had for quite a while. Vickers maintained a pretty high vocal standard until the day he retired.

I listened to it last night. Vickers still delivered, despite his age. The attraction of his Parsifal was never from the beauty of the sound anyways but from the intensity of the character's emotions which he was a master of.

Rysanek wobbled and was often sharp. I would still say hers was a serviceable Kundry since I have heard worse Act II (the late Varnay, Modl, and then Gwyneth Jones).

I also found an earlier Parsifal with Rysanek. She was much better here:

 

[Itullian]

Barenboim
Boulez
Goodall emi
Karajan DG
Kegel
Kna '51
Kna '62
Kubelik
Levine DG
Levine Philips
Solti
Thielemann

Favorites:
Karajan
Kna 62
Solti
Kubelik
Levine Philips

 

[wkasimer]

I listened to it last night. Vickers still delivered, despite his age. The attraction of his Parsifal was never from the beauty of the sound anyways but from the intensity of the character's emotions which he was a master of.

There's an earlier Met broadcast with Vickers, from 1979 - with Christa Ludwig and Martti Talvela.

 

[Woodduck]

As someone who has often named Parsifal as his favorite opera - or, alternately, considered it not an opera but an esoteric rite to be conducted on nights of the perigean full moon - I've listened to many performances but owned only six: Knappertsbusch '51 and '62, Krauss '53, Gui '50, Levine studio, and a Met performance with Vickers I taped off the air. I largely stopped buying CDs years ago, so the recordings I have don't in all cases represent the ones I'd most want to hear or own.

 

[Itullian]

As someone who has often named Parsifal as his favorite opera - or, alternately, considered it not an opera but an esoteric rite to be conducted on nights of the perigean full moon - I've listened to many performances but owned only six: Knappertsbusch '51 and '62, Krauss '53, Gui '50, Levine studio, and a Met performance with Vickers I taped off the air. I largely stopped buying CDs years ago, so the recordings I have don't in all cases represent the ones I'd most want to hear or own.

How do you like the ones you have?
What are the ones you'd like most to hear or own?

 

[Woodduck]

How do you like the ones you have?
What are the ones you'd like most to hear or own?

I don't like Levine, who puts me to sleep. Maybe his live Bayreuth version has more life in it, but I'm not eager to find out. I don't return to the '51 Kna any more because neither Modl nor Windgassen pleases my ear. I can take her opposite Vinay in the Krauss, a fine version overall. The Gui is for Callas. The '62 Kna is the one I tend to recommend as a library basic, but among studio recordings the Kubelik stands out. If I were buying CDs I'd get the Kubelik, the '64 Kna for Vickers, and the Solti for Christa Ludwig's Kundry, Gottlob Frick's Gurnemanz, and magnificent sound (the act one transformation and temple scene never sounded better).