Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

A timelessly classical Parsifal from the 1998 Bayreuth Festival in a mystically poetic staging that exerts an unbroken fascination, not least as a result of its expressive lighting effects. Under the direction of the great Wagner conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, the four main roles are taken by Poul Elming, Linda Watson, Falk Struckmann and Hans Sotin - one of the strongest line-ups in Bayreuth's more recent history. "Giuseppe Sinopoli coaxed an outstanding performance from the Festival Orchestra and Chorus, throwing light on the elaborate score from an agreeable distance and investing the music with a meditatively flowing quality rather than the usual bombast" (Opernglas)

Wolfgang Wagner's Bayreuth production of his grandfather's 'farewell to the world'has 'an unusual beauty and logic of its own ... with a double stress - on nature undefiled and on a form of religious symbolism ... There is an air of magic and mystery about the staging ... The performance was excellent ... Horst Stein conducted a beautifully proportioned Parsifal'. New York Times

Richard Wagner's grandson, Wolfgang Wagner, staged and directed this performance of the legendary composer's most human of musical dramas at the 1984 Bayreuth Festival. Horst Stein directs the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra and an all-star cast that includes Hermann Prey (as Beckmesser), Bernd Weikl (as Sachs), Siegfried Jerusalem (as Walter), Graham Clark (as David) and MariAnne Haggander (as Eva).