Cast
Nikolaus Lehnhoff — Stage director
Kent Nagano — Conductor
Christopher Ventris — Parsifal
Waltraud Meier — Kundry
Matti Salminen — Gurnemanz
Thomas Hampson — Amfortas
Tom Fox — Klingsor
Bjarni Thor Kristinsson — Titurel
Program notes
A documentary about Wagner's last opera - and one of his greatest masterpieces - Parsifal. The production by Nikolaus Lehnhoff was a great success in opera houses around the world.
"Parsifal is an existential drama about the dilemma of our human existence. Under the appearance of a religious drama, the music of Wagner tells gives total solitude. This confronts living in a world devoid of all its original meaning." – Nikolaus Lehnhoff.
Nikolaus Lehnhoff is trying to evoke symbolism developed through the "sacred scenic festival" of Wagner. The evocative power of its scenery and its staging helps to make the public feel the journey of Parsifal. Preserved all during his youth, he is confronted on the one hand to a strange world that is totally unknown to him, destroyed and dominated by non-sense, but far beyond, to the human condition that this world is a reflection. With all this, there entails suffering and strife. Through the Holy Grail, he finds the peace of his soul, it is a quest of rebirth leads Parsifal, a quest where "the only thing that can help is to reconcile his actions with his God" and Christopher Ventris testifies (Parsifal).
This documentary combines interviews with Nikolaus Lehnhoff, the conductor Kent Nagano who runs the majestic and music full of power and Wagner singers who managed to give full consistency to their characters.
