Parsifal

Published Friday 7 December 2007 at 15:10 by George Hall

Klaus Michael Gruber’s production of Wagner’s final, enigmatic work was not much liked when first seen in 2001, and doesn’t look significantly better as revived here by Elaine Hammer.

The sets are a patchy achievement and the crucial visual moments - the killing of the swan, the unveiling of the Grail, the catching of the spear - are pretty well muffed.

But the central performances are delivered with such vocal splendour and acute understanding of their dramatic complexity that, taken together with wonderful orchestral playing and the command of the whole musical enterprise revealed under Bernard Haitink’s experienced baton, it’s still a remarkable evening.

Christopher Ventris does not plumb the depths of the title role, but his singing is firm, clean and engaging. Petra Lang’s Kundry is rather too contained in Act I but fires on all cylinders in the great seduction scene of the second act, where Willard White, also in authoritative voice, mesmerises as the magician Klingsor.

Even more outstanding is Falk Struckmann’s dark and tormented Amfortas, with the tone pouring out in his scenes of physical and spiritual anguish. In the wrong hands Gurnemanz can be the greatest bore in opera, but with John Tomlinson singing the role, you hang on his every word, despite the now obvious wear in the top part of his voice. With smaller roles and chorus present and correct, much of Wagner’s strange and complex vision comes over. But don’t expect great visuals.