Parsifal: Act 3 with Prelude to Act 1

The Temple Church is a wonderful setting in which to experience this beautiful performance of Parsifal Act 3, preceded by the prelude to Act 1. I remember a performance of Act 1 in Gloucester Cathedral years ago, with full Wagnerian orchestra; here in a much smaller space, it was appropriate to have a chamber-sized orchestra and chorus. Having recently conducted this myself in Strathpeffer, Scotland with Tomas Leakey’s Mahler Players, I pay tribute to Matthew King who has so lovingly and expertly arranged Wagner’s score for an orchestra of 40. It sounds and feels like the real score – very rarely does one miss the original.

The stage setting was a long walkway with dried leaves which spanned the length of the aisle. Director Julia Burbach used the space imaginatively with the flowing path of people journeying, seeking, during the Act 1 prelude, and with Kundry (Natasha Jouhl) guiding us. Although she only sings one word (“Dienen” – “let me serve”) twice in Act 3, she gave a deeply moving performance that emphasised the centrality of her character.

With the audience all around the stage, Julia Burbach effectively used all parts of the walkway for the different scenes, and in particular brought out the tension and inherent danger of the knights’ desperation in scene two, with much movement and counter movement; whilst in scene one where Gurnemanz discovers Kundry, and Parsifal returns ignorant of the fact that it is Karfreitag (Good Friday) until informed by Gurnemanz, there was a beautiful stillness at the heart of the movement, and well-chosen parts of the walkway stage.

With the audience all around the stage, Julia Burbach effectively used all parts of the walkway for the different scenes.

It is Gurnemanz who dominates the first part of Act 3: I have known Simon Wilding for many years at Longborough as an excellent Wagnerian performer, but I have never heard him sing so eloquently and beautifully as he did here. And Neal Cooper, whom I know as a great Tristan and Tannhauser, gave a strongly sung and moving performance of the journey-weary, mature Parsifal of Act 3. Freddy Tong sang a fine and histrionic performance of Amfortas who, after a long tribute to his dead father Titurel (sensitively portrayed by Paul Carey Jones), bursts out in desperate longing for death. At this critical moment Wagner the genius brings about a magical transformative moment as Parsifal arrives, and in radiant music shiningly sung by Neal Cooper, heals Amfortas’s terrible wound with the point of the sacred spear, now to be reunited with the Holy Grail.

Peter Selwyn conducted a well-paced performance in which the music had time to breathe and unfold naturally, thereby allowing us, the audience, to relish the beautiful playing of the Orpheus Sinfonia. Although he did not have direct contact with the cast and chorus, the ensemble was good, and the singing of the small chorus filled the space well and brought magic to the final pages of the score.

At the end I felt thankful that the whole team had approached their task with great sensitivity and humility, resulting in a truly moving experience that honoured the intangible and unique quality of this sublime Act.

Anthony Negus
Music Director
Longborough Festival Opera