Boulez first conducted at Bayreuth in 1966 when Wieland Wagner invited
him to conduct Parsifal.  He was invited to conduct Parsifal there again
in 1970, and those 1970 performances are the source of the Boulez recording
on DGG now offered by Berkshire Record Outlet for little more than a song.
The performance is notable for the extraordinary contributions of Boulez
and his orchestra, which plays very beautifully for him.  Boulez is
probably not susceptible to the particular form of religiosity
characteristic of the piece, but no matter.  In a curious way, Boulez has
a temperamental affinity for the work: recall Debussy's high regard for
the orchestration of the piece.

As we all know, the kinds of smooth continuity characteristic of later
nineteenth century German (and Austrian, etc.) music created new kinds of
performance problems.  The smooth continuities encompassed structures of an
ever vaster scale.  At the same time, there is a greater demand than ever
for flexibility of tempo, for constant subtle local adjustments of tempo.
Boulez is at once a master of the longest range architecture and of the
local subtle adjustment of tempo, as is abundantly in evidence from
Boulez's DGG recording.

Needless to say, Boulez positively revels in Wagner's orchestration,
making of it something perhaps a little shinier and brighter, a little
more transparent, than what Wagner had in mind.  Still, the prelude,
for example, emerges as a splendid, gleaming, moving experience.

Which brings us to the singers.  James King has a voice of the right
size and weight for the title role, but is a bit past is prime.  His
performance is neither crude nor subtle.  Gwyneth Jones, the Kundry, is
already experiencing vocal difficulties.  She may not yet have attained
the nadir of her performance in the third act of Wagner's Siegfried under
Boulez in the centenary Ring, but there are a lot of unpleasant yelps . . .
in addition to those that are intentional.  She's musical and intelligent,
but she's no syren.

-david gable