Parsifal

The final music-drama from groundbreaking composer, dramatist, and philosopher Richard Wagner, Parsifal takes listeners on one of opera’s most profound musical journeys. Centered on a mystical brotherhood of knights protecting and sustained by the Holy Grail, this epic tale showcases Wagner at his musical best and presents its principal singers with heroic—and daunting—vocal writing. In this historic 1956 radio broadcast, a cast of seasoned Met Wagnerians rises to these challenges with spectacular results. Swedish tenor Set Svanholm stars in the title role, opposite the acclaimed Margaret Harshaw, who triumphed at the Met in a number of formidable soprano and mezzo-soprano roles, as Kundry. Bass Otto Edelmann, who holds the record for the most Met performances of both Baron Ochs in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and Hans Sachs in Wagner’s Der Meistersinger von Nürnberg, is the wise Gurnemanz, with baritone Paul Schöffler as Amfortas and bass-baritone as Klingsor. A noted interpreter of Wagner’s operas, Fritz Stiedry takes the podium to conduct this powerful performance.