Listen to a Sample:

Pros:

• As artists Sándor Kónya and Astrid Varnay could not have been more different, but paired in this performance of Parsifal their differences manage to compliment eachother in interesting and illuminating ways.
• Kónya's sweet tenor is ideal in conveying Parsifal's guileless wonder in Act I, although it is his transformation in Act II that is truly remarkable. Despite the lyric nature of his voice, he manages to put his voice into overdrive, delivering the anguish and religious fervor you would associate with a true heldentenor.
• Astrid Varnay is a sensual, yet world-weary Kundry. If the voice has lost some of its youthful bloom she more than makes up for it with her relentless committment to the words.
• Thomas Stewart is impeccable as Amfortas and Josef Greindl brings fatherly warmth to the role of Gurnemanz.
• Although favoring swifter tempos, Pierre Boulez' approach is somewhat more relaxed than the DG recording from Bayreuth made a few years later.

Cons:

• None to mention

In Mono

OD 11718-4