WAGNER: Parsifal: Prelude and Good Friday Spell
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1957
by Ken
We first heard the Prelude and opening of Act I of Parsifal in a March 2010 post called "Wagner, master of musical motion, Part 2," in which I wrote: "Our subject this week, you'll recall, is "musical motion," how performers find -- or don't -- what makes a piece of music move forward from the inside, how they re-create it with real energy and purpose instead of just grinding out one damned note after another."
The Jochum studio recording of the frequent concert coupling of the Parsifal Prelude and "Good Friday Spell" (from Act III), by no means a speedy performance, seems to me a shining example of the "re-created with real energy and purpose" kind.
IN 2010, OUR PRINCIPAL WAGNER TESTING GROUND . . .
