Bayreuth welcomes a new Parsifal

By Matthew Rye, 03 August 2016

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“Zeppenfeld’s Gurnemanz was a masterclass in clear enunciation, opulent bass tone and vocal charisma”

Reviewed at Bayreuther Festspielhaus, Bayreuth on 2 August 2016

Wagner, Parsifal

Hartmut Haenchen, Conductor

Uwe Eric Laufenberg, Director

Gisbert Jäkel, Set Designer

Jessica Karge, Costume Designer

Ryan McKinny, Amfortas

Georg Zeppenfeld, Gurnemanz

Andreas Schager, Parsifal

Gerd Grochowski, Klingsor

Elena Pankratova, Kundry

Karl-Heinz Lehner, Titurel

Tansel Akzeybek, First knight of the Grail

Timo Riihonen, Second knight of the Grail

Alexandra Steiner, First squire

Mareike Morr, Second squire

Charles Kim, Third squire

Stefan Heibach, Fourth squire

Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Bayreuth Festival Chorus

Reinhard Traub, Lighting Designer

Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s Bayreuth take on Parsifal

Zoltán Szabó, 30th July

Despite its enigmatic details, Bayreuth's Parsifal reaches a cathartic climax.

****1

Laufenberg’s Elektra a disappointment in Vienna

Jonathan Sutherland, 5th December

German theatre director Uwe Eric Laufenberg freely incorporates some of Stanley Kubrik’s horror story concepts into his Elektra, but in ignoring both Sophocles and Strauss, is a long way from shining.

***11

Götterdammerung or The Ring returns to the Rhine

Brian Angus, 17th May

With Götterdämmerung the Linz Ring came to a controversial conclusion with a graphic depiction of Siegfried violently raping a defenceless Brünnhilde, and Hagen entertaining his father Alberich, and his mother.

***11

The Linz Ring: Siegfried or Whither Wotan?

Brian Angus, 14th May

Rewarding performances by Matthäus Schmidlechner as Mime and Lars Cleveman in the title role, plus Elena Nebera as Brünnhilde, made Richard Wagner’s Siegfried at the Landestheater Linz a joy.

***11

Die Walküre or Wotan’s double dilemma

Brian Angus, 10th May

Some beautiful singing from Michael Bedjai as Siegmund and Brit-Tone Müller as Sieglinde set a high standard in this Landestheater Linz production of Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.

*****

The Linz Ring begins: Das Rheingold

Brian Angus, 8th May

Gerd Grochowski made a stunning Wotan and Michael Bedjai a cheerful Loge in Landestheater Linz’s production of Das Rheingold.

***11

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).

Time becomes space: Bayreuth welcomes a new Parsifal