Wagner
Original Air Date: 04/20/1974
Steinberg; Thomas, Martin, Stewart, Macurdy, Meredith. Morris
SID.18510638
This is William Steinberg’s farewell performance (only 25 altogether in 4 operas) and I was in attendance for this. It’s a very solid overall performance, and better conducted than Leopold Ludwig’s wan effort when the production was new. Next time out in 1979, James Levine begins a LONG run as the Parsifal conductor. I don’t understand why this performance is not on MOoD. The cast is all-American, and except for Antony and Cleopatra, Jess Thomas is not represented on MOoD.
Not yet heard on Sirius are Hotter’s 2 Parsifal broadcasts (1952 as Amfortas and 1954 as Gurnemanz– his Met farewell). Hotter is well represented from Bayreuth, but worth hearing on Sirius. To me the big gaps are the 1966 Pretre Parsifal with Crespin and Konya under Pretre and the 1971 with Siepi’s classic Gurnemanz. Levine conducted a lot of Parsifal broadcasts in the 1980s, and the surprise omission is the 1985 with Vickers, Rysanek, Moll
38 years later James Morris is the only survivor still on the Met stage. I love Parsifal, and glad that Sirius schedules Parsifal with some regularity. I wish they would honor the great Vickers and Rysanek with THEIR broadcast of Parsifal.