“Knappertsbusch is legendary today as one of the last ‘Teutonic’ musical mystics, conductors who protracted Wagner’s ruminations to extreme length in Bayreuth. There were two official, major-label albums of “Parsifal” conducted by Knappertsbusch at Bayreuth, from 1951 and 1962. The 1962 Philips recording in stereo, with Jess Thomas, Irene Dalis and Hans Hotter, have a better sound technology, but the original Decca version from 1951 that re-opened the Bayreuth Festival after the war, for me is the finer performance. And you, what think about?”
Saulo Zucchello