Richard Farnes, CONDUCTOR; Sam Brown, DIRECTOR; Bengt Gomér, SET & LIGHTING DESIGNER; Stephen Rodwell COSTUME AND WIGS; Toby Spence, PARSIFAL; Katarina Karnéus, KUNDRY; Robert Hayward, AMFORTAS, Derek Welton, KLINGSOR; Brindley Sherratt, GURNEMANZ; Stephen Richardson, TITUREL. Opera North Chorus and Orchestra
I was meant to be going to a performance of Die Tote Stadt at Longborough on 25 June, which I was very much looking forward to – I have never seen this work live. However the rail strike on 25/6, and the fact that the car was already booked by others for other things meant that I couldn’t make it to Longborough – and anyway I’ve got to a point where I think long distance car journeys are a form of lunacy. Much disgruntled I looked for other things to do and, having applied for a refund for my rail tickets, sold my Longborough ticket to someone else and applied for some sort of cancellation rebate on my hotel booking, I decided that I was justified in thinking that the best thing I could do instead was go to another performance of Parsifal given by Opera North, the last one in their tour given at the Festival Hall in London. This was also an attractive option because when I heard it in Manchester I was suffering from approx 40% hearing loss, now happily restored.
Leaving home at 0800 on Sunday 26/6 by train, I was anticipating problems and delays but in fact the journey was smooth and without disruption.
The performance at the RFH was remarkably good. If anything, the performance of Act 3 was better than in Manchester – or to put it perhaps more precisely, I was moved more. Act 2 was again outstanding. It is on reflection odd that the ON team decided on such a pared back ‘concert’ performance for Act 1 and 3 in this and the BH showing – Act 2 was far more dynamic and I believe more could have been done to make Acts 1 and 3 a bit more interactive and ‘theatrical’. However, musically, it was all splendid. Interestingly the timing of Farnes’ conducting of the work was precisely the same as in Manchester, demonstrating the very clear structural approach he has and the thought which has gone into the speed relationships between the different parts of each act of the opera. There was a capacity crowd and standing ovations plus flowers for the ON orchestra leader, retiring after this concert. I am already formulating some questions for Richard Farnes when he Zooms in to a Manchester Wagner Society in the Autumn……
It seems slightly bonkers that I am going to another live Parsifal, this time staged, in Leipzig, in precisely 17 days’ time (Covid permitting). And at the same time, I’m thinking….maybe that’s it…..coming up to my three score years and ten, the clock is ticking….I’m not aware of any other Parsifal performances coming up. It’s 9 years since the last live performance in the UK (Elder 2013 at the Proms). If so, and that’s it (though I may be wrong, I think it’s unlikely I’ll be around aged 79), as far as my lifespan is concerned, I feel profoundly grateful to have heard so many fine live performances over the last 50 years, conducted by Jochum, Goodall, Horenstein, Solti, Elder, Wigglesworth, Haenchen, Farnes and others, and with/at ROHCG, ENO, Bayreuth, ON and Teatro de Sao Carlos, Lisbon (the last one in a circus tent in the early 80s, while the theatre was being renovated), with Peter Hoffman in the title role and a distinct whiff of elephant dung throughout the performance….I reckon I’ve been in all to about 12 live performances of Parsifal……
John's musical journey 