WAGNER: PARSIFAL – JAAP VAN ZWEDEN, NETHERLANDS RADIO PHILHARMONIC (4 HYBRID SACDS + BONUS DVD) CHALLENGE

Philosopher Ernst Bloch once referred to the ‘Bühnenweihfestspiel’ or consecrational stage festival Parsifal as ‘a metaphysical adagio’. In these few words he summed up the story line and the musical purport of Wagner’s last opera – that is, if such a thing is at all possible in his operas, because as a composer Wagner was never at a loss for words when it came to bandying about statements artistic and non-artistic about the world in general and the universe in particular. Wagner’s musical theatre revolves around fundamental questions of human existence. Tristan und Isolde is about an all-consuming love, but also about the implications of the longing for love and the death wish. The work is about defining an identity through love and the loss of that identity through that same love. Der Ring des Nibelungen is about the incompatibility of love and the pursuit of power; it is also an in-depth exploration of the question of whether man has a free will, and it is about the eternal cycle of destruction and renewal which holds mankind captive on this earth.

Parsifal is about all of the above and much, much more. Wagner himself defined the theme of his swan song as ‘Das große Leid des Lebens’, the great suffering of life. Everything he still wanted to say at the end of his life about life, love, sex, psychology, politics, society, nature, art, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and anti-Semitism was mixed together in a grail chalice (poisonous, according to some) to form a ‘metaphysical adagio’ of four hours of consecrational musical drama. Consecrational in the literal meaning of the word. Wagner’s own name for the genre, ‘Bühnenweihfestspiel’ means a consecrational stage festival. The plot of Parsifal refers implicitly and explicitly to Christianity and religious rites. Indeed, it was one of Wagner’s many ambitions to replace European Christianity by his own ritual art.

The Ring Wagner had to resolve the ‘problem’ of love in a new work. That work was Parsifal. The essential difference with all his prior works is the fact that there is no love in Parsifal. All the characters live in a loveless universe in which only the urge to reproduce – desire, lust – remains. Although Wagner’s answer to this remains to be seen for the time being, one thing is important here. With Schopenhauer, Wagner does not view the urge to reproduce as morally reprehensible. He situated Siegfried, who suffered from the same fault in the Ring, in an amoral universe, not an immoral one – in a world where morals are not violated, but where all moral is absent. This is also the case in Parsifal, and it is part of the secret of Wagner’s huge success in the nineteenth century. (Part of the programme information written by Willem Bruls)

Disc #1

01. ACT I: Vorspiel 12:24
02. ACT I: He! Ho! Waldhüter ihr 08:24
03. ACT I: Recht so! – Habt Dank! – Ein wenig Rast 05:52
04. ACT I: Nicht Dank! – Haha! Was wird es helfen? 07:57
05. ACT I: O wunden-wundervoller heiliger Speer! 03:44
06. ACT I: Titurel, der fromme Held, der kannt?ihn wohl 10:54
07. ACT I: Weh! Weh!… Wer ist der Frevler? 07:03
08. ACT I: Nun sag! Nichts weißt du, was ich dich frage 07:01

Disc #2

01. ACT I: Vom Bade kehrt der König heim 02:04
02. ACT I: Verwandlungsmusik 03:45
03. ACT I: Nun achte wohl und laß mich seh?n 07:09
04. ACT I: Mein Sohn Amfortas, bist du am Amt? 11:01
05. ACT I: Enthüllet den Gral! 07:39
06. ACT I: Wein und Brot des letzten Mahles 11:15

Disc #3

01. ACT II: Vorspiel 01:59
02. ACT II: Die Zeit ist da. – Schon lockt mein Zauberschloß den Toren 03:40
03. ACT II: Ach! – Ach! Tiefe Nacht! 10:40
04. ACT II: Hier war das Tosen! Hier, hier! 04:05
05. ACT II: Komm, komm, holder Knabe! 04:59
06. ACT II: Parsifal! – Weile! 02:46
07. ACT II: Dies alles hab?ich nun geträumt? 08:46
08. ACT II: Wehe! Wehe! Was tat ich? Wo war ich? 04:24
09. ACT II: Amfortas! – Die Wunde! – Die Wunde! 08:28
10. ACT II: Grausamer! Fühlst du im Herzen nur and?rer Schmerzen 12:11
11. ACT II: Vergeh, unseliges Weib! 04:01

Disc #4

01. ACT III: Vorspiel 05:10
02. ACT III: Von dorther kam das Stöhnen 07:55
03. ACT III: Heil dir, mein Gast! 06:34
04. ACT III: Heil mir, daß ich dich wiederfinde! 04:21
05. ACT III: O Herr! War es ein Fluch 07:07
06. ACT III: Nicht so! – Die heil?ge Quelle selbst erquicke unsres Pilgers Bad 04:00
07. ACT III: Gesegnet sei, du Reiner, durch das Reine!… 05:00
08. ACT III: Wie dünkt mich doch die Aue heut so schön! 02:45
09. ACT III: Du siehst, das ist nicht so 06:36
10. ACT III: Mittag. – Die Stund? ist da 04:16
11. ACT III: Geleiten wir im bergenden Schrein den Gral zum heiligen Amte 04:02
12. ACT III: Ja, Wehe! Wehe! Weh?über mich! 06:51
13. ACT III: Nur eine Waffe taugt 05:08
14. ACT III: Höchsten heiles Wunder! 03:57