Performance of all roles is good.

Can I with webmanager speak?

This is not a Parsifal for those in a hurry. Goodall takes his time, yet he finds more variety in the tempos than Levine did earlier in his career. This was recorded at the final dress rehearsal and the sound can be frustrating. Shuard, for whatever reason, seems to always be on the wrong side of the mic. She is audible (probably more so with headphones), but it takes a little effort to hear her. Frick is also difficult to hear in Act Three. The singers are all terrific and have been very well-coached. Te Kanawa's lovely soprano is easily identifiable as one of the Flower Maidens. Vickers probably makes the best impression because he is always on mic. Incidentally, Shuard performs all of Kundry's scripted screams, including the one at the end of Act Two that, for whatever reason, is usually left out (even Rysanek is silent here!).If you can find it, the Royal Opera issued the broadcast from this run officially though that performance had Dutch bass Louis Hendrikx as Gurnemanz. He was very good, if not quite in Frick's class. It is, however, in much better sound..

An in-house line recording of the dress rehearsal, it has its expected anomalies of balance and extraneous noises, but provides a valuable record of the great Frick's Gurnemanz, superior, in my view, to the rather quavering Hendrikx on the official Royal Opera Goodall Parsifal.

Goodall at his most Goodall-ish, a performance of deep sincerity, beautifully played by the Covent Garden orchestra and with an impressive cast. The slow speeds sometimes work (eg the prelude to Act 1, and the bell sequence), but there are times when the music needs a greater forward impulse. Not a perfect recording, with the sound at ff distorting at start of Act 2, and occasionally singers being distant from the microphone and almost inaudible at normal playing level. Despite this, captures a very good evening at Covent Garden for Parsifal-lovers, and good to have Vickers and Amy Shuard in particular caught live. The official Covent Garden issue may have managed to resolve some of the sound issues, but I've not heard it.

Vickers voice has such presence that his performance comes thru very well but the rest of them not so much.

If one is a follower of the tempi of Pierre Boulez or Clemens Krauss, one risks to be totally disconcerted by the extreme slowness of the interpretation of Reginald Goodall. The whole score is adorned with an exceptional aura. Surprisingly, we have no trouble listening to this wonderful music so well served by such great artists as Vickers, Shuard or Frick. To know absolutely!

Although this version has some weak points in many ways because of a rehearsal performance, the Goodall's interpretation is, as ever, unique and extremely outstanding.

This is quite a find, commemorating a Covent Garden "Parsifal" revival that was marked by frequent changes of cast. Franz Crass, the intended Gurnemanz, was indisposed and a 60-something Gottlob Frick was convinced to emerge from retirement. (Peter Meven and Louis Hendrikx would deputize at later performances.) He gives a wonderful performance, singing like a much younger man and giving Jon Vickers a run for his money as the opera's dominant presence. Both singers luxuriate in Reginald Goodall's relaxed tempi, with Vickers demonstrating yet again the sense of identification with Parsifal that made him the dominant interpreter of the role.Norman Bailey is a communicative, handsomely sung Amfortas, while Herbert Fliether's Klingsor fairly spits venom -- at the cost of an incipient wobble. About Amy Shuard's Kundry it is difficult to pass judgment, as she is way off-mike for most of Act II. Few Act I Kundrys surely have sounded more like a harridan, though. Michael Langdon's Titurel, a welcome presence, comes through clearly.Reginald Goodall's conducting perplexes. He doesn't really come into his own until the meditative Act III, with a truly overwhelming coronation of Parsifal. Much of Acts I & II are mundane or worse, as in the sticky battle with Klingsor's knights and unalluring Flowermaiden scene. Puzzling.

This performance was, I understand, the final dress rehearsal before its opening two days later. It is quite remarkable and makes a fascinating comparison with the radio broadcast of the performance on 8th May 1971 which is also available. Both performances are wonderful demonstrations of the art of Reginald Goodall which I find quite mesmerising. Goodall displays his famous leisurely (slow!) tempi, but the dress rehearsal has a little more urgency and clocks in at nearly 10 mins faster (or less slow!) than in the broadcast.Given that Goodall had to cope with stand-ins for Gurnemanz after the scheduled singer cancelled, his reading is wonderfully serene and spiritual. I saw two of the performances in the run and listened to the live broadcast of another, the latter having the best of the substitutes in Louis Hendrikx who gave a very estimable performance. But in the Opera Depot release we can at last hear the great Gottlob Frick who cane out of retirement to cover the final rehearsal and opening night.