Parsifal discography
This is a partial discography of Parsifal, an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner.
Parsifal was expressly composed for the stage at Bayreuth and many of the most famous recordings of the opera come from live performances on that stage. In the pre-LP era, Karl Muck conducted excerpts from the opera at Bayreuth which are still considered some of the best performances of the opera on disc. Hans Knappertsbusch was the conductor most closely associated with Parsifal at Bayreuth in the post-war years, and the performances under his baton in 1951 marked the re-opening of the Bayreuth Festival after the Second World War. These historic performances were recorded in mono sound, originally issued but now no longer available on the Teldec label, and reissued in 2003 on Naxos Historical. Knappertsbusch recorded the opera again for Philips in 1962 in stereo, and this release is often considered to be the classic Parsifal recording.
There are also many "unofficial" live recordings from Bayreuth, capturing virtually every Parsifal cast ever conducted by Knappertsbusch.
Amongst the studio recordings, those by Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan and Daniel Barenboim have been widely praised. The von Karajan recording was voted "Record of the Year" in the 1981 Gramophone Awards. Also highly regarded is a recording of Parsifal under the baton of Rafael Kubelík. Originally recorded for Deutsche Grammophon but never released, it is now available on the Arts Archives label.
On the Saturday 14 December 2013 broadcast of BBC 3'S CD Review – Building a Library, music critic David Nice surveyed recordings of Parsifal and recommended the 1980 recording by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik, as the best available choice.
Audio recordings
Video recordings
This is a partial filmography of Parsifal, an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. In addition to the productions of the complete opera listed below, there is a 1998 documentary directed by Tony Palmer, titled: Parsifal – The Search for the Grail. It was recorded in various European theaters, including: the Mariinsky Theatre, the Ravello Festival, Siena, and the Bayreuth Festival. It contains extracts from Mr. Palmer's stage production of Parsifal starring Plácido Domingo, Violeta Urmana, Matti Salminen, Nikolai Putilin and Anna Netrebko. It includes interviews with Domingo, Wolfgang Wagner, Robert Gutman and Karen Armstrong. The film exists in two versions: a complete version running 116 minutes and officially approved by Domingo, and an 88-minute version, cut as a result of being censored in Germany as being too "political", "uncomfortable" and "irrelevant".| Cast | Conductor, Opera house, orchestra | Stage director | Label / Cat. # | - | |
| 1981 | Siegfried Jerusalem, Eva Randová, Hans Sotin, Bernd Weikl, Leif Roar, Matti Salminen | Horst Stein, Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele | Wolfgang Wagner | DG Unitel / 0734328 | - |
| 1982 | Reiner Goldberg, Yvonne Minton, Robert Lloyd, Wolfgang Schöne, Aage Haugland, Hans Tschammer | Armin Jordan, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | Image Entertainment / n/a. This film was released theatrically with the following actors appearing on the screen in place of the singers – Parsifal 1: Michael Kutter, Parsifal 2: Karen Krick, Kundry: Edith Clever, Amfortas: Armin Jordan, Titurel: Martin Sperr. | - |
| 1992 | Poul Elming, Waltraud Meier, John Tomlinson, Falk Struckmann, Günter von Kannen, Fritz Hübner | Daniel Barenboim, Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper & Staatskapelle Berlin | Harry Kupfer | EuroArts / 2066738 | - |
| 1993 | Siegfried Jerusalem, Waltraud Meier, Kurt Moll, Bernd Weikl, Franz Mazura, Jan-Hendrik Rootering | James Levine, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus | Otto Schenk | DG / 0730329 DVD direction: Brian Large | - |
| 1998 | Poul Elming, Linda Watson, Hans Sotin, Falk Struckmann, Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Matthias Hölle | Giuseppe Sinopoli, Orchestra of the Bayreuther Festspiele | Wolfgang Wagner | C Major / 705908 | - |
| 2004 | Christopher Ventris, Waltraud Meier, Matti Salminen, Thomas Hampson, Tom Fox, Bjarni Thor Kristinsson | Kent Nagano, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Festspielchor Baden-Baden | Nikolaus Lehnhoff | Opus Arte / OA0915D | - |
| 2006 | Richard Decker, Doris Soffel, Matthias Hölle, Wolfgang Schöne, Mikolaj Zalasinski, Ulrich Dünnebach | Gabor Ötvös, Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro La Fenice di Venezia | Denis Krief | Dynamic / 33497 | - |
| 2007 | Christopher Ventris, Yvonne Naef, Matti Salminen, Michael Volle, Rolf Haunstein, Günther Groissböck | Bernard Haitink, Zurich Opera House | Hans Hollmann | DG / 0734407 | - |
| 2013 | Johan Botha, Michaela Schuster, Stephen Milling, Wolfgang Koch, Wolfgang Koch, Milcho Borovinov | Christian Thielemann, Salzburg Easter Festival, Staatskapelle Dresden | Michael Schulz | DG / 0734939 DVD – DG – 0735036 Blu-ray | - |
| 2014 | Simon O'Neill, Angela Denoke, René Pape, Gerald Finley, Willard White, Robert Lloyd | Antonio Pappano, Royal Opera House, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House | Stephen Langbridge | 2-DVD set: Opus Arte, ASIN: B00O2YFDLG | 2014 |
| 2014 | Jonas Kaufmann, Katarina Dalayman, René Pape, Peter Mattei, Evgeny Nikitin, Rúni Brattaberg | Daniele Gatti, Metropolitan Opera, Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera | François Girard | 1-DVD set: Sony Classical, ASIN: B00CU55HHY | - |