A transcendent Parsifal from Nelsons and the CBSO

By David Karlin, 18 May 2015

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“Nelsons played the hall like a master, displaying countless details of the score to best advantage”

Reviewed at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 17 May 2015

Wagner, Parsifal

Andris Nelsons, Conductor

Mihoko Fujimura, Kundry

Burkhard Fritz, Parsifal

James Rutherford, Amfortas

Wolfgang Bankl, Klingsor

Georg Zeppenfeld, Gurnemanz

Paul Whelan, Titurel

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

CBSO Chorus

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Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

****1

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Laura Servidei, 26th April

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****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Wretches like us: the LPO’s concert Wozzeck cuts to the quick

Peter Quantrill, 25th April

Beautifully prepared singing and playing brings out the tender side to Berg's modernist classic as part of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival.

****1

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

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David Karlin

David is a co-founder of Bachtrack. He is a musical omnivore interested in almost all types of music, but with a particular love of Italian opera. You can contact him from this link.