Knappertsbusch’s 1951 and 1962 recordings of Parsifal (Teldec, 8/93 and Philips, 6/86), have always been the benchmarks by which to judge his successors. Here we have an Act 3 from nine years earlier, a Berlin Radio wartime broadcast, and the comparisons are fascinating. On this occasion, either because he was younger or because there was no stage action to be considered, the reading is markedly faster though no less weighty. On account of the balance in a studio, the textures are even more transparent, the sense of dramatic movement even more positive, the playing almost as fine as at Bayreuth.
This earlier performance is also further evidence of Knappertsbusch’s innate rapport with Weber’s wonderful Gurnemanz, which has only Hotter (Philips) and Moll on the Karajan set (DG, 10/84) as near-equals. As David Breckbill points out in his interesting notes, he is rather smoother of voice, more accurate in note and pitch than at Bayreuth: the pairing of bass and conductor provides the best reason to hear this CD, although Reinmar sings Amfortas’s second monologue with agonised dignity. The Parsifal is a wooden, unappealing performer. The sound, a few moments of distortion apart, is good.
The Meistersinger CD, as Breckbill points out, displays the lighter approach (than today’s) to the score, with fastish tempos and a welcome emphasis on the comedy of Act 2. Rother was never a revelatory conductor but always a sound one. He has a cast that would be hard to match today. Hann, a bluff bass-baritone, brings intelligence and a large, serviceable voice to his role, but he is rather too inclined to lapse into parlando. Kempf, the little-known Eva, is a revelation, a forward, fresh soprano with clear articulation of the text (something today’s Evas seldom match) and just the right girlish tone. Noort, Toscanini’s Salzburg Walther in 1937, contributes positively. The Beckmesser is surely Kunz, not Nissen, as the labelling has it on the disc, just as welcome and characterful as in his Bayreuth recordings. Schirp is a more-than-adequate Pogner.
On the 1943 excerpts from Act 3, Suthaus is, as ever, a marvellously vital, involved Walther (what impassioned phrasing!), Prohaska an ageing, rough Sachs. Muller, in her single phrase, shows her class. On this small evidence, Heger is far preferable to Rother as a conductor of this work; real fervour can be felt.'