Word: knappertsbusch
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Died. Hans Knappertsbusch, 77, German conductor in the grand tradition of the late 19th century romantics, who through the 1920s and '30s took brilliant charge of, first, the Munich Bavarian State Opera, then the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic until the Nazis forced him into virtual retirement from 1938 to '45, after which he came back to crown his career at the 1951 Bayreuth Festival with a daringly modernized performance of Parsifal that sparked a Wagnerian revival throughout Europe; of a heart attack; in Munich...
WAGNER: PARSIFAL (Philips; 5 LPs). This first stereo version has top credentials: conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch, an eminent Wagnerian, it was recorded at Bayreuth, where Wagner intended his "sacred dramatic festival" to be performed and where the acoustics are ideal-even, unfortunately, for coughs. Knappertsbusch slowly and hypnotically weaves the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus into a rich tapestry of sound against which budding Heldentenor Jess Thomas as Parsifal, Baritone George London as King Amfortas and Soprano Irene Dalis as the tortured Kundry eloquently play out the medieval legend of renunciation and redemption...