Prelude Act 1 (Parsifal) - Richard Wagner, David Briggs at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC.

Описание: Prelude to Act 1 (Parsifal) - Richard Wagner (1813-83), transcribed and performed by David Briggs at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC.

Wagner wrote his initial prose sketch for Parsifal in August 1865; but it was only after the first complete staging of the cycle in August 1876 that he returned to the subject in early 1877, completing his libretto in April of that year. Wagner’s Biilinenweihfestspiel — his “Stage-consecrating-festival-play,” as he called it — had its premiere at Bayreuth in July 1882, a half-year before the composer’s death. Writing in February 2013 about a new Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner’s final work, the reviewer for the New York Times described it succinctly as “among the most metaphysical, ambiguous, and profound, if inexplicable, operas ever written.” This seems entirely right: Parsifal is a curious, even puzzling amalgam of elements drawn from Arthurian legend, Christianity, Buddhism, and Schopenhauerian philosophy that, through its music, works a unique magic on those who fall under its spell.

The story can be construed on its most basic level as one of temptation overcome through compassion, which in turn leads to redemption. The music for the Prelude of Act 1 is some of the most ravishingly beautiful to come from Wagner’s pen. I hope you will enjoy it in this new organ transcription, which I made last year. At St John the Divine we have the best of both worlds - a plethora of rich and immensely subtle 8ft colour (a lot of the pipework was retained from 1909 E M Skinner organ) as well as the more razzle-dazzle brilliance of the 1953 G Donald Harrison rebuild. Of course it’s not the same as the orchestra, but without doubt we have a similarly subtle dynamic and coloristic range, with the added benefit of a 10-second acoustic!