WAGNER: Parsifal - The Search for the Grail (PAL)

PARSIFAL - THE SEARCH FOR THE GRAIL
Documentary
A Film Special presented by
PLACIDO DOMINGO

CAST:
Parsifal: Placido Domingo
Kundry: Violeta Urmana
Klingsor: Nikolai Putilin
Gurnemanz: Matti Salminen
The Kirov Orchestra and Choir at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Valery Gergiev
Directed by Tony Palmer

100 610

Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Picture Format: 4:3
Region Code: 2, 5
Menu Languages: GB, D, F, SP
Subtitle Languages: GB, D, F, SP
Running Time: 88min
DVD 5/ PAL
FSK: 0

"Gergiev's conducting is riveting in its dramatic intensity, ravishing beauty and transcendent religiosity. Along with Domingo's stunning surety in the title role, Violeta Urmana is the compelling Kundry, Matti Salminen the fierce Klingsor." (Los Angeles Times)

This powerful and controversial film provides an invaluable opportunity to explore Wagner and his most intense opera.

Parsifal, Wagner's three-act opera, is perhaps the most famous work to celebrate the Search for the Holy Grail, a subject which has inspired notable figures from Adolf Hitler to Monty Python. First performed in 1882, and written especially for the composer's revolutionary theatre in Bayreuth, Parsifal has towered above twentieth-century culture, in so far as it became a principal source of inspiration for Hitler.

Tony Palmer's film centres round a performance of Parsifal, with the unmistakable Placido Domingo in the title role, and conducted by the distinguished Valery Gergiev. However this is much more than just a performance of the opera. Also included is a striking documentary, narrated by Domingo himself, offering description of the plot and exploring theories about Parsifal's origins and considerable sphere of influence.

The music was recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and in the gardens of the Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italy, which had been a principal source of inspiration for Wagner.