Opera North’s Wagner journey, which began with the Ring cycle it presented between 2011 and 2014, continues with his final music drama. Unlike the previous instalments, though, Parsifal is presented not in Leeds Town Hall (currently being refurbished) but in the company’s home theatre, so that the staging is more elaborate than before; on tour it will be presented as a more straightforward concert staging.
As before, though, Opera North’s orchestra, conducted again by its former music director Richard Farnes, takes centre stage. Literally, in this case, as it fills the space of the Grand theatre, with the drama played out in front and sometimes behind it, and spilling into the auditorium for the choral set pieces. As one of the greatest glories of Wagner’s score is its extraordinary orchestral writing, that is no disadvantage at all, and Farnes’ control and shaping of four hours of music is as sure as ever. To those reared on Hans Knappertsbusch’s classic Parsifal recordings, his tempi may sometimes seem rather brisk, and there is perhaps more intense beauty to be wrung out of the third-act prelude than there was here, but in general the shimmering poetry of the score is wonderfully conveyed.
