Composer: Richard Wagner
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, Mariinsky Chorus, Mariinsky Children’s Chorus
Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Number of Discs: 4
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Mariinsky
Release: 2010
Size: 4.92 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Parsifal, WWV 111
Release tracks
CD 01
01. Vorspiel, Pt. 1
02. Vorspiel – Prelude – Part II
03. Act I, Scene I, “He! Ho! Waldhueter ihr!”
04. Act I, Scene II, “Recht so! Habt Dank! Ein wenig Rast”
05. Act I, Scene III, “Nicht Dank! Ha, ha! Was wird es helfen?”
06. Act I, Scene IV, “O wunden-wundervoller heiliger Speer!”
07. Act I, Scene V, “Titurel, der fromme Held, der kannt’ ihn wohl”
08. Act I, Scene VI, “Weh’! Weh’! Hoho! Auf! Wer ist der Frevler?”
09. Act I, Scene VII, “Nun sag’: nichts weisst du, was ich dich frage”
CD 02
01. Act I, Scene VIII, “Vom Bade kehrt der Koenig heim”
02. Act I, Scene IX, “Verwandlungsmusik”
03. Act I, Scene X, “Nun achte wohl, und lass mich sehn”
04. Act I, Scene XI, “Mein Sohn, Amfortas, bist du am Amt?”
05. Act I, Scene XII, “Enthuellet den Gral!”A
06. Act I, Scene XIII, “Wein und Brot des letzten Mahles”
CD 03
01. Act II, Scene I, Vorspiel – Prelude
02. Act II, Scene II, “Die Zeit ist da”
03. Act II, Scene III, “Ach! Ach! Tiefe Nacht!”
04. Act II, Scene IV, “Hier war das Tosen! Hier, hier!”
05. Act II, Scene V, “Komm’! Komm’! Holder Knabe!”
06. Act II, Scene VI, “Parsifal! Weile!”
07. Act II, Scene VII, “Dies alles hab’ ich nun getraeumt?”
08. Act II, Scene VIII, “Ich sah das Kind an seiner Mutter Brust”
09. Act II, Scene IX, “Wehe! Wehe! Was tat ich? Wo war ich?”
10. Act II, Scene X, “Amfortas! Die Wunde! Die Wunde!”
11. Act II, Scene XI, “Grausamer! Fuehlst du im Herzen nur and’rer Schmerzen”
12. Act II, Scene XII, “Vergeh, unseliges Weib!”
CD 04
01. Act III, Scene I, Vorspiel – Prelude
02. Act III, Scene II, “Von dorther kam das Stoehnen”
03. Act III, Scene III, “Heil dir, mein Gast!”
04. Act III, Scene IV, “Heil mir, dass ich dich wiederfinde!”
05. Act III, Scene V, “Nicht so! Die heil’ge Quelle selbst erquicke unsres Pilgers Bad”
06. Act III, Scene VI, “Du siehst, das ist nicht so”
07. Act III, Scene VII, “Mittag. Die Stund’ ist da”
08. Act III, Scene VIII, “Geleiten wir im bergenden Schrein den Gral zum heiligen Amte”
09. Act III, Scene IX, “Ja! Wehe! Wehe! Weh’ ueber mich!”
10. Act III, Scene X, “Nur eine Waffe taugt”
11. Act III, Scene XI, “Hoechsten Heiles Wunder!”
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.