Telling a Story: Tom DeRose is enthralled by Dmitri Tcherniakov’s original take on ‘Parsifal’

Review of Parsifal, directed Tcherniakov, conducted Barenboim, Berlin Staatsoper, 2015 (BelAir, 2 DVDs).

March 2017, Volume 11, Number 1, 81–3.

The combination of Wagner, Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin undoubtedly raises the highest expectations in the opera world. Following the recent release of Sasha Waltz’s Tannhäuser recorded at the Berliners’ Easter Festival at the Schiller Theater in 2014, BelAir Classics have now brought out Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Parsifal, recorded at the same event the following year. As with the Tannhäuser recording, we are presented here with a musical and dramatic offering of the highest quality.

Tcherniakov’s interpretation of Parsifal is one that is guaranteed to divide opinion, but what is most important is the fact that both Barenboim and his ideally assembled cast seem to be totally committed to it, as a result of which one is convinced of the relevance of such an approach.