A Parsifal touched with greatness
Hans Knappertsbusch (conductor)
Jon Vickers (Parsifal), Hans Hotter (Gurnemanz) et al; Bayreuther Festspielorchester Orfeo C690074L
Wagner wanted performances of to be given only in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, but his heirs weren’t able to maintain a ban, and from 1913 onwards it has beenis not a religious work, not like a mass or Passion, but a study at the highest artistic level of what makes people religious, how a genuinely religious community is possible: above all, how we can see the basic beliefs of Christianity without believing in their literal truth.
