By Stuart Peel

On October the 22^nd 2008, I was lucky enough to attend a performance of the Wagner opera ‘Parsifal’ at the Valencia Palau De Les Arts. Now, before you switch off and think this is going to be a scholarly and rather dry review of a challenging opera, don’t worry, because I haven’t approached it in quite that way. Let me explain.

I have always been a lover of classical music. When I was a small child my father played classical music every Sunday morning, and I grew to enjoy and admire the form even then. This isn’t to say that I don’t love rock music because I do, but the classics have always had an important part to play in my life too. When I was carrying out exhausting years of study to become a barrister I always listened to Mozart or Beethoven as I worked. Thus I have become as familiar over the years with their work as that of The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. I have a large number of classical CDs and books about various composers and I’ve even been to a number of classical concerts over the years, including a Mozart recital in Wolverhampton of all places. But I’ve never considered myself an expert in any way, and crucially, opera has always been the great ‘undiscovered country’ for me.

Opera sits at the summit of the achievements of classical music as a daunting quest, seemingly inaccessible to all but the few and consisting of simply too much commitment in terms of research and hard work for most of us to attempt. But since I have lived in Valencia I have had the opportunity to attend more classical music concerts then ever before. This is for two reasons, firstly because the city is blessed with two superb venues and secondly because a close relative of mine works at the stunning new Palau De Les Arts. Thus all these circumstances led me to attend a performance of ‘Parsifal’ by Richard Wagner.

Now, here’s the technical stuff first. The opera is the final work of the famous and somewhat notorious German composer Richard Wagner. Wagner was known to be a difficult personality in his lifetime and was prone to great arrogance. Despite that his music is some of the most beautiful and poignant ever written. But his work has divided critics since the off. ‘Parsifal’ has been criticised for being pro-Aryan although interestingly the Nazis banned it for being too pacifist in nature. Nietzsche disliked it because he felt it preached chastity and was thus anti-nature, whereas Mahler was so bowled over by its beauty that he claimed he would never forget the experience as long as he lived.

The story, like much of Wagner’s work, is set in a fairytale world of princes and knights. It broadly follows the Arthurian legend and in particular the quest of Percival (aka Parsifal) for the Holy Grail. Just as an aside I was interested to note that the Grail used in the production was a large facsimile of the alleged Grail that resides in the cathedral at Valencia. Nice touch.

This current production is perfomed by the orchestra of the Valencian government and conducted by their musical director and noted Wagner specialist Lorin Maazel. The director for this show is none other than the celebrated German film director Werner Herzog and the singing cast is led by Christopher Ventris and Violeta Urmana. So the credentials are extremely solid, and when you add in the fact that it is performed in the main auditorium of the beautiful new opera house, this adds up to a very special event indeed.

Now, a few words of warning. The opera is long, 5 hours plus intervals. Secondly Wagnerian opera is slow and often hard to follow. Wagner rejected the operatic conventions of the time and thus you will find no hummable arias nor pieces you’ll have likely heard on adverts or in movies. The piece is serious and moody, and unless you know the story or speak either German or Spanish (a translation into the latter is provided on natty little screens on the back of the seats) you will not follow what is going on. Make no mistake ‘Parsifal’ is for the serious opera lover and casual spectators may be put off by the weight and length of the thing.

But for those hardy enough to commit to the long and expensive process of attending, you will be rewarded by a memorable night. Maazel’s rendering of the music is exquisite and beautiful. The direction is rather stark and minimalist but this fits nicely with the tone of the opera and as things develop, what seems to be a very basic stage set develops into something unexpectedly complicated and fascinating. ‘Parsifal’ isn’t just a show, it is an experience, and here it is rendered by a number of experts in their fields and is all the more remarkable for it. It is an extraordinary work and I imagine that this is as good a production of it as you could hope to see. If all this is to your taste, you will not regret going.

Parsifal opens on the 25^th October and runs for 5 performances.