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Sorry Alma, I dont think I have time.
Anyway, its proving more difficult than I expected to remember the details.
It was pretty awesome, the 4 of them sat on stage with Klaus Bertisch, the dramaturg posing the questions. It was very obvious to me that they knew the work and every facet of it deeply.
Mr. Audi spoke of his partnership with Anish Kapoor which started with a production of Pelleas et Melisande at le Monnaie. Mr. Kapoor is a great fan of opera, Parsifal being his favourite apparently and one he was interested in working on with Mr. Audi. He spoke of the difficulties working with a visual artist instead of a regular theater decorator; they often dont think in practical ways and use heavy materials unsuitable for the stage, also he found Mr. Kapoor tends to propose one object or 'artwork' rather than the many settings in traditional theater. This is something he had to work around in Pelleas by fr example turning the object around and even using the supports as parts of the stage. With Parsifal he similarly had to work around this issue.
He spoke of the idea of the mountain in Parsifal, the slopes of which are home to both the realms of Klingsor and of the grail (though on opposite sides), and how this is a symbol that he used.
He spoke of other productions and how directors often try to fit the work into a coherent theme and 'solve' all its issue, for example the recent Bayreuth set in political Berlin. This is something he values, but not something he wishes to do himself. He rather allows the ambiguity to come across as it is and for us to solve the questions for ourselves. In this way the production is 'updated' to 2012 as it is reflected in the modern audience.
He also mentioned how he sees the story of Parsifal, the character, as central to the opera, and that at the end he leaves the grail kingdom and continues on. And how the opera moves from concrete to abstraction throuhgout and that these changes evolve also in the set.
During scene changes he has opted to drop a curtain so that the audience sees only darkness and listens to the music.
Mr. Fischer spoke of the german fascination with mysticism, despite their culture and thinkers being grounded in rationality and logic. He thought that even though the wrk feels very mystical, everything about it makes perfect sense.
He thought the Knappertbusch wagner recordings were awful! Knappertbusch and all other cnductors exert too much influence n the score and dont allow the music to come across as it is written, but manipulate it to meet their end. He has attemted to play the music naturally, following the instructions almost to the letter.
As for costumes, we saw a few of the drawings. The flower maidens will have to separate sets. First when they are in mourning for the husbands Parsifal has killed, and then for the seduction scene. Mr. Audi felt that many productions 'iron over' this first bit. They looked beautiful to me anyway.
The 3rd act takes place in the cemetery where Titutrel is to be buried. We saw the knights costume here which alludes heavily to christian symbolism.
Mr. Audi sees an evolution in the chorus from act 1 to 3, whereby under pressure they seem to harden and become more intolerant. He saw parallels in real-life religious groups.
If i remember more ill post
Originally Posted by emiellucifuge
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