Following their acclaimed previous Wagner opera releases, the Hallé present the re-mastered recording of their 2013 Prom performance, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall.

Wagner’s last opera, Parsifal, which the composer declared to be his “farewell to the world”, has been described as being in many ways the most “total” of all his “total art works”. His spiritual swansong unfurls as a slow-moving, ritualistic drama, and is arguably the best-suited of all his operas to the style of concert staging offered here.

Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, London at the 2013 BBC Proms, featuring dramatic spatial placing of off-stage choruses and musicians.

Audio re-mastered by Hallé’s award winning engineer Steve Portnoi: the original multitrack recordings of both rehearsals and concert were edited to eliminate audience noise whilst retaining the sense of place and the staged nature of the performance. The edited multitrack was then remixed to achieve a sound in keeping with Hallé label releases.

“Working with his orchestra, the Hallé, Sir Mark Elder produced an account of this miraculous score which, for a combination of passion and precision, surpassed any other that I have ever heard.” - Michael Tanner, The Spectator, 31 August 2013

Cast:
- Parsifal: Lars Cleveman
- Kundry: Katarina Dalayman
- Gurnemanz: Sir John Tomlinson
- Amfortas: Detlef Roth
- Klingsor: Tom Fox
- Titurel: Reinhard Hagen
- First Knight: Robert Murray
- Second Knight: Andrew Greenan
- Squires: Sarah Castle, Madeleine Shaw, Joshua Ellicott, Andrew Rees
- Flower Maidens: Elizabeth Cragg, Anita Watson, Sarah Castle, Ana James, Anna Devin, Madeleine Shaw
- Voice from Above: Madeleine Shaw

Recorded at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, London, Sunday 25 August 2013