As of: March 1, 2024, 12:00 p.m
By: Markus Thiel
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Was the Gurnemanz part ever captured so completely on CD?
Georg Zeppenfeld in the Viennese production by Kirill Serebrennikov.
© Michael Pöhn
A new Viennese recording of Wagner's “Parsifal” is being promoted with star tenor Jonas Kaufmann.
But the singer who stands out above all else is Georg Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz.
Not a lustful, highly dramatic woman in a flower power dress, as the traditionalists like it: This Kundry is an investigative journalist and sometimes picks up a gun.
Also because danger lurks everywhere in this Russian penal camp, where the title hero later carries out his redeeming business quite routinely and Grail Knight Gurnemanz tattoos his fellow prisoners.
There was a lot of autobiography in this Wagner production at the Vienna State Opera, which director Kirill Serebrennikov (at that time still tied to Russia) was only able to prepare via video calls.
But the digital isn't enough: This prominently cast “Parsifal” was only released as a stream premiere in April 2021 during the lockdown.
The public premiere followed in December, then with other singers.
What now appears on four silver discs is, so to speak, the soundtrack to it.
And without the unusual, oppressive images, it becomes even clearer how strong the musical faction was back then.
Especially since the vocal section appears very vividly thanks to the microphone technology and you can record almost every note in shorthand when listening to the State Opera Orchestra.
Elina Garanča sings her first Kundry
Gurnemanz provides an early climax.
“They bowed down to him in a holy, serious night…” Georg Zeppenfeld sings around 20 minutes after the beginning, and you have to kneel before him inwardly.
The fact that this bassist is praised for his ability to understand words happens all the time.
But here you can hear an example of what makes Zeppenfeld a unique case of Wagner singing.
The exemplary combination of declamation, textual awareness and legato phrasing.
Every word, every syllable has weight, and yet everything is put together into flexible, Belcantesque arcs.
Nothing is forced or distorted.
Like a song expanded into the monumental, without anything being exhibited or pontificated.
And at some point the question creeps up on you: Was Gurnemanz ever captured so completely on CD?
For Elina Garanča, it's not just the cool reporter's outfit but also her singing that drives her first Kundry away from cliché.
No vocal grimace, no dramatic excess.
It is a vocally balanced design without externality.
Always controlled, always text-based.
The only problem is that conductor Philippe Jordan gives his Kundry all the seduction time in the world.
While Jordan's "Parsifal" interpretation in the Gurnemanz passages is actually a conversation piece, Kundry can let every syllable melt in his mouth.
Jordan is at his best where his Wagner seems natural, where he knows the hinges and details like a bandmaster.
Conductor Philippe Jordan tends to slow down
But then there are these other moments.
The Grail revelations, for example, the prelude to the third act, the return of Parsifal, where Jordan overwhelms the score and slows everything down, as if he couldn't get enough of the score.
A pleasure musician following in the footsteps of a colleague, but these are misunderstood Thielemannisms.
Ludovic Tézier is doing extremely well as a newcomer to Wagner.
A robust Amfortas with a dark baritone tone that tends to overpronounce; in the first monologue Tézier also overcontrols the intonation.
Wolfgang Koch is a safe bet as Klingsor.
And the star of the production finds it difficult to assert himself against all of this.
Sure, Parsifal is a short game anyway.
But Jonas Kaufmann could have gained a few more dimensions from his pure scoring.
The pithy, woody sound, the powerful emotion, that's effective.
And yet it seems as if Kaufmann moves from snapshot to snapshot.
When this Parsifal is anointed king by a triumphant Gurnemanz, one catches oneself saying something blasphemous: Was the roles accidentally reversed?
Richard Wagner:
“Parsifal”.
Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan (Sony).