The Complete Karl Muck Parsifal Recordings (Naxos Historical)
Conductor Alfred Hertz
Conductor Karl Muck
Conductor Siegfried Wagner (Good Friday Spell)
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra
Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin State Opera Orchestra
Amfortas Cornelis Bronsgeest
Gurnemanz Alexander Kipnis
Gurnemanz Ludwig Hoffmann
Parsifal Fritz Wolff
Parsifal Gotthelf Pistor
Flower Maiden Ingeborg Holmgren
Flower Maiden Anny Helm
Flower Maiden Minnie Ruske-Leopold
Flower Maiden Hilde Sinnek
Flower Maiden Maria Nezadal
Flower Maiden Charlotte Müller
Alfred Hertz: Prelude to Act 1, Act 1 Transformation Music, Act 3 Transformation Music and Good Friday Spell
The first part of CD 1 is devoted to Alfred Hertz, conducting Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Prelude to Act 1, Act 1 Transformation Music, Act 3 Transformation Music and Good Friday Spell. His reading is extremely slow. Especially the Transformation Music from Act 3 is falling apart and lacks dynamic flow. The recordings were made in 1913, 30 years after Wagner's death. Recording in those days meant an orchestra of 30 musicians (not exactly Wagnerian size!) cramped before a gigantic acoustic horn. No matter how fascinating a recording so close to Richard Wagner in time may be, listening to these excerpts is a trial.
I don't know if it is the acoustic recording conditions or anything else, but for me Hertz is struggling too much with the score to achieve more than being of historical interest. By the way, Alfred Hertz is the one who broke the copyright on Parsifal at the Met in 1903.
Wagner: The Complete Karl Muck Parsifal Recordings
Karl Muck's Parsifal excerpts and Siegfried Wagner's Good Friday Spell
How different with the recordings from Berlin and Bayreuth with conductor Karl Muck (1859-1940)! From the first note of the Prelude to Act 1, his great handling of the score becomes evident. One should remember that recording conditions now had improved vastly when comparing Muck with Hertz. Microphones and the ability to record with a full orchestra in concert halls gave a much richer sound. But the greater craftsmanship of Muck is evident.
At the time these recordings were made, Karl Muck was an experienced Wagner conductor. He had conducted Parsifal at Bayreuth numerous times, starting as early as 1901.
The recordings made in the Bayreuth Festival Hall were not made during actual performances. Not even all the singers in the scenes recorded are there (to keep costs low).
The time barrier disappears when one listens to the Muck recordings. The sound is fantastic, thanks to outstanding restoration work by Mark Obert-Thorn. Muck's interpretation sounds modern – well balanced and wonderfully controlled. Muck is also on the slow side in the Singakademie recording of the Act 1 Prelude, but very passionate, and he knows how to pull the best out of the musicians from Berlin State Opera Orchestra. After the Prelude to Act 1 a section from the Bayreuth Festival follows, starting with the Act 1 Transformation Music, which Muck plays surprisingly fast - listen to the wonderful rich sound of the strings. Muck also really knows how to build those great climaxes with fantastic effect.
CD 2 is completely devoted to Karl Muck's Parsifal recordings at the Bayreuth Festival in 1927 and in the Singakademie in Berlin in 1928.
The CD opens with the Flower Maidens Scene sung by Ingeborg Holmgren, Anny Helm, Minnie Ruske-Leopold, Hilde Sinnek, Maria Nezadal and Charlotte Müller. Parsifal is missing from the scene
Then follows excerpts from Act 3 recorded in Berlin, where we hear great Wagner singing from Gotthelf Pistor as Parsifal, Ludwig Hofmann as Gurnemanz and Cornelis Bronsgeest as Amfortas.
The Transformation Music from Act 3, probably my favourite Wagner orchestral "piece", is conducted with dark intensity capturing the terror and anxiety of this music.
The CD ends with Siegfried Wagner conducting Good Friday Spell (So ward es uns verhiessen) with Fritz Wolff as Parsifal and Alexander Kipnis as Gurnemanz – in 1927.
Wagner: The Complete Karl Muck Parsifal Recordings