Composer: Jules Massenet
Performer: Yuri Alexeev, Nikolai Putilin, Olga Trífonova, Lia Shevtsova, Alexei Tanovitski, Evgeny Nikitin, Elena Ushakova, René Pape, Irina Mataeva, Violeta Urmana, Olga Legkova, Gary Lehman, Liudmila Dudinova, Alexander Timchenko, Alla Martynenko, Anna Kiknadze, Andrei Popov, Zhanna Dombrovskaya, Yuri Vorobiev
Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Mariinsky
Release: 2010
Size: 2.21 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
01. Act I: I. “Alza!”Valery Gergiev05:20
02. Act I: II. “Quand la femme a vingt ans”
03. Act I: III. “Dulcinée est certes jolie”
04. Act I: IV. “Allégresse!”
05. Act I: V. “C’est merveille de voir”
06. Act I: VI. “O Dulcinée!”
07. Act I: VII. “Quand apparaissent les étoiles”
08. Act I: VIII. “Ah! Ah! C’est vous qui lanciez”
09. Act I: IX. “Vous êtes, monseigneur”
10. Act II: I. “C’est vers ton amour”
11. Act II: II. “Comment peut-on penser du bien”
12. Act II: III. “Regarde!”
CD 02
01. Don Quichotte: Premier interlude
02. Act III: I. “C’est ici le chemin”
03. Act III: II. “O mes rêves divins!”
04. Act III: III. “Ah! Voir un corps long”
05. Act III: IV. “Seigneur, reçois mon âme”
06. Act IV: I. “Alors, traîtresse”
07. Act IV: II. “Ah! J’ai en ce moment le désir d’autre chose”
08. Act IV: III. “Alza! Ne pensons qu’au plaisir d’aimer”
09. Act IV: IV. “Annonce le Grand Don Quichotte”
10. Act IV: V. “On ne s’explique pas”
11. Act IV: VI. “Marchez dans mon chemin”
12. Act IV: VII. “Me marier, moi!”
13. Act IV: VIII. “Enfin, te revoilà!”
14. Act IV: IX. “Riez, allez!”
15. Don Quichotte: Deuxième interlude
16. Act IV: I. “Ô mon maître!”
17. Act IV: II. “Oui! Je fus le chef”
18. Act IV: III. “L’Étoile!”
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’s music. The composer himself conducted at the Theatre, which in 1863 was the location of 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, although remarkably this is his first recording of the composer’s operas.
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 further refined to create music of astonishing beauty that still retains and reflects the deep morality of the tale.
Recording took place between 5 and 13 June 2009 at the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg, incorporating live concert performances. It was recorded in high resolution multi-channel DSD by award-winning producer James Mallinson and engineered by John Newton and Dirk Sobotka. Parsifal will be the fourth opera on 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.
Sung in German, Notes in Russian (cyrillic), English, French and German.
Libretto in German with Russian (cyrillic), English & French translations.