London. (International).(Royal Opera performance)(Brief Article)

The "new" production of Parsifal presented by Royal Opera on December 8 was in essence quite old: Klaus Michael Gruber's staging, on which he was assisted by Ellen Hammer, is a co-production with Madrid, based on a version that originated in Amsterdam in 1990. The sets were by Gilles Aillaud and Vera Dobroschke (the latter also lit the show), while Moidele Bickel was responsible for the costumes.

Taken as a whole, the visuals were dull, with an expanded Leonardo Last Supper table for the Grail ceremonies, semi-abstract trees for the forested realm of Monsalvat, and a good deal of clanking armor -- generally uninhabited and usually pushed around on wheels by members of the chorus. Most memorable of its images was a giant stuffed shark that hung down from the ceiling of Klingsor's magic castle. To the literal-minded, Parsifal might seem quite low on the list of operas into which a shark could be interpolated with profit, and so it proved. The swan shot by Parsifal was a large white handkerchief that fluttered pathetically down from the flies. As far as I could see, there was no attempt at a dove.

Literalism, of course, is not essentially what Parsifal is about, and much of its mystery and -- one hopes -- spiritual quality has to be conjured in sound. Simon Rattle has been edging his way into the Wagnerian canon largely by way of this, the composer's final and most enigmatic work, and this production in fact marked his first complete staged Wagner opera in the U.K. (It was also Royal Opera's first staged Parsifal for thirteen years.) The orchestra played beautifully for him, with smooth lines and enriched tone. However, he tended to shy away from the sheer vitriol of some of the poisoned harmony associated with suffering or sorcery, and he altogether avoided a transcendental close. The pacing of the work was also problematic. The vast span of Act I registered not as a unified structure but a sequence of individual scenes. At its worst, the result ...