A simple, beautiful staging in glowing stained-glass hues, with Jerusalem and Sotin . . . Stein's conducting is soundly theatrical.

This is a production cast in real depth: Matti Salminen, no less, is Titurel, and Hanna Schwarz has three roles (Esquire, Flowermaiden, Voice). As for the larger roles, I cannot recall hearing a more musically satisfying traversal of the piece. No trace of "Bayreuth bark": everyone offers a bel canto reading, with even Leif Roar's chillingly acted Klingsor truly sung rather than shouted. Siegfried Jerusalem (Parsifal) is on rare form, making a genuine emotional journey in the title-role, the only Wagner hero that actually was suitable for his middleweight lyric voice . . . The greatly affecting Bernd Weikl (Amfortas) is in his all-time best voice . . . There is supremely well-blended choral singing, and more guts and lyrical fervour from conductor Horst Stein than I would have expected.

. . . the inner conflicts of the characters come alive through the vividness and confidence of the voices . . . both Bernd Weikl as Amfortas and Leif Roar as Klingsor sing soundly. Hans Sotin's Gurnemanz is . . . a plain man who rises to grandeur through sheer vocal amplitude, and the easily recognizable bass of Matti Salminen makes a striking Titurel. What would we give for a cast like this at Bayreuth today?

Siegfried Jerusalem . . . is an attractive, youthful, and naïve Parsifal who gets excellent mileage from a merely very good vocal apparatus thanks to some fine acting. When he calls out Amfortas's name after Kundry's kiss, his moment of enlightenment is thoroughly convincing . . . The choral work is unassailable and, year after year, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra attracts players that do their job magnificently, no matter who is conducting.

Se trata además de un Parsifal excelentemente tocado y cantado, sin fisura alguna en el reparto, al que sólo la comparación con los más carismáticos podría hacer palidecer parcialmente: es un placer escuchar a Jerusalem como Parsifal, con voz y presencia sana y juvenil, en un papel que sienta como anillo al dedo a su voz, más lírica de lo esperable en un cantante que cante este repertorio. Randova, también en pleno apogeo vocal, resuelve el difícil rol de Kundry con nota, agudos incluidos ... La orquesta de Bayreuth suena espléndida bajo la experta y muy idiomática dirección de Horst Stein.