A thousand words is worth a picture
You know how La Cieca gets when one of her darling Regie productions gets dissed sight unseen, as happened on these shores with last Sunday’s unveiling of the Hans Neuenfels Lohengrin at Bayreuth. (Not so much on this site, because La Cieca is happy to report that here at dear parterre.com all schools of opinion—even stupid ones—are given a full measure of respect.)
So anyway, a photo or two of choristers in rat suits do not the experience of a production make. Ten minutes of video highlights is not the ideal solution either, but until some enterprising impresario in the U.S. imports Calixto Bieito‘s take on Parsifal (or we all charter a package tour to Stuttgart), the following selection of video highlights will have to do as conversation fodder. (Anyone who finds extended video of the Neuenfels Lohengrin is asked to alert your doyenne!)
Note: there is a glimpse or two of nudity in the following video, so workers should be cautious.
From the clips I’ve seen of his productions (Don Giovanni and this Parsifal), Bieito’s visual aesthetic is not always something I like but he is clearly a director with fascinating ideas and strong ability to get his singers to engage in the presentation of those ideas. I would gladly go to experience one of his productions first-hand.
If I get any free tickets kashania I’ll be sure to give them to you
Excellent! Just be sure to throw in some plane tickets.
I attended two performances of the Bieto Parsifal in Stuttgart last April. I went with some trepidation having seen cuts of previous Bieto productions. What I experienced was possibly the most affecting production of opera in my some forty years of opera attendance. The dramatic force of the production built continually and I was simply amazed by how well the production communicated the universal mythical elements of Parsifal. Perhaps because I saw the production well into the run (the faint of heart having been warned away), but I found that the audience was totally in sync with the production.
Because the any Bieto production is such a personal statement by the director, the performances of the singers are not as commonly discussed. However, it should be noted that in the Stuttgart Parsifal, the cast was as close to perfect as a cast can get. Especially notable were: Andrew Richards as Parsifal, Stephen Milling as Gurnemanz, Gregg Baker as Amfortas and Christiane Ivan as Kundry. If you are not familiar with the charismatic Andrew Richards, check out the clips of his performances on YouTube and read his amusing and insightful blog at http://tenorrichards.blogspot.com/. Folks following this thread will especially enjoy his blogs on the Parsifal rehearsals.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I have posted replies to many of them on my own blog HERE.
Andrew Richards
aka Twin Peaks Bob