This was the Parsifal I chose for Good Friday this year - and what a good choice it was. Cluytens leads a fluent, well-paced performance that some might say lacks gravitas. Perhaps, but it also doesn't get bogged down in sanctimonious lethargy. The performance is not textually complete: chunks of Gurnemanz's monologues are trimmed (two cuts in Act 3).Konya sings so beautifully it's hard to find anything to criticize. He doesn't find the pain in the role as Vickers and some others do, yet his singing in the Good Friday scene would melt a stone. Gorr has no trouble with Kundry's tessitura; she is as strong on top as she is lower down. Extra bonus points: she performs all of Kundry's screams including the one at the end of Act 2. Christoff is a force of Nature as Gurnemanz. He crowns his baptism of Parsifal with a ringing high E. Neidlinger is good as Amfortas though it's not really his part. Stern is a marvelous Klingsor, relishing his Bad Guy persona. Caballe is easily distinguishable from the other Flower Maidens; they make a lovely group.The sound is very good mono broadcast, transferred on pitch. I had some fleeting file corruption on my copy of disc 3 during the Klingsor/Kundry scene.Recommended to all who love this bloated, wonderful opera!

For Act 2 - notably for the Klingsor, flower maidens, Parsifal and above all Rita Gorr's tremendously powerful Kundry - the Scala Parsifal deserves a hearing. But my overall response was let-down. For one thing, the all-important chorus (here, much-prompted) is mediocre, nothing like what the Milan house was to achieve in later years. For another - and this I accept is a personal response which others clearly don't share - Christoff's exotically-accented, stony-voiced Gurnemanz is continuously hard to take. And finally, compared to some of the other versions of this opera in Opera Depot's collection, for me Cluytens's account of it seriously lacks breadth, spaciousness, inner feeling. He keeps it moving competently, and in Act 2 gets a bit closer to being the sort of music-drama conductor required. But as a whole I found this Wagner performance a considerable disappointment.

I love Cluytens’ reading of the score. No molasses-per-minute langsam, no distended elbows for the strings, no cross-town echos for the chimes. Cluytens relies on the score to state its case simply, succinctly without losing a moment of beauty or spirituality. This approach allows each artist more immediacy and vibrancy vocally. There may be more ingratiating timbres than Christoff, but he propels the drama as historian and headmaster, suffering no fools (pace pun). Konya is a great Parsifal. With his voice blooming above the staff, you can hear his transformation in comprehending his surroundings and his role within them. Gorr is an otherworldly mezzo-contralto (G2-B4), the beauty and amplitude of her voice enveloping Kundry and ranking among the best. Neidlinger is an heroic and (too?) virile rather than swooning Amfortas (to me, an attractive departure). Stern is truly malevolent, every note laced with arsenic, sung, no faux Sprechstimme. Fun to hear Caballe's "budding" soprano!

some wonderful singing and conducting

Great things to be heard in this performance - if it lacks the authority and grand scale of Bayreuth, it has an integrity all its own and some unforgettable singing, nicely calibrated by Cluytens. And a young Caballé, lovely and unmistakable among the Flower Maidens!

Konya is one of my favorite tenors. Outstanding as Parsifal.

This was a wonderful performance. All of the cast was superb. I still have favorites in other recordings but this one is excellent. The flower ladies were the best I have heard. Probably due to the leadership of Caballe.

Excellent performance with unusual performers who sing quite appropriately!

The contributions of Gorr and Christoff make this historic; her performance is blistering, and it's fascinating for once to hear Christoff sing in German.

A remarkable experience, especially for Christoff-fans, his only Gurnemanz in German. What a wonderful voice! Very well the rest of the singers and a rare chance to hear Gustav Neidlinger in a "not-bad-guy" role.