Classical Music Reimagined #1: Wagner’s Parsifal - The Quest for the Grail
Welcome. What you are about to experience is classical music, but not as you know it.
This is Concerts Re:Imagined, a season of live classical music in the Oak Room, curated by the Hospital Club and the Arensky Chamber Orchestra.
Expecting cramped auditoriums and a silent troupe of musicians in bow ties? Formal programmes and a dry (in every sense!) evening sitting in silence? Think again.
Think a penthouse cabaret club in Central London. Think secret programmes and chamber music jams. Think mysterious love potions and magical elixirs. Each concert features a relaxed setting full of sofas and cabaret tables, a bar of master mixologists and above all, a new musical world to explore every time.
You’ll begin with themed food and drink inspired by the music; then there'll be a pre-concert show by soloists from the orchestra (or perhaps a post-concert chamber music jam?); next, there’ll be a live programme note filled with stories that take you behind the scenes: deep into the meaning behind the notes and the lives of the extraordinary people that wrote them.
Then, with the tension at breaking point, it's the main event, with the full Arensky Chamber Orchestra. It's a high-octane performance of one of Classical Music’s greatest masterpieces, so close up, so clear and electrifying that you feel like you’re part of the orchestra.
On October 14th you will enter the Realm of the Holy Grail with the music of Wagner’s opera Parsifal. Once so noble and pure, the Realm is a twilight world of shame and decay. Amfortas, its King, lies disgraced and in agony - seduced by a magical temptress and wounded by his own Holy Spear. Until he is absolved of his sins, he refuses to reveal the Grail and its healing power has seeped from the land. Beyond the walls of his castle, a wicked sorcerer lies in wait hoping to steal the Grail, a woman cursed for centuries desperately seeks redemption and a young fool searches for the enlightenment that can restore balance to this world. This is Wagner’s last great opera Parsifal. This is The Quest for the Grail.
About the music
Wagner never intended Parsifal to be performed outside the opera house he built in Bayreuth (indeed, for many years it wasn’t). He didn’t even think of it as an opera. Instead, he wanted it to be a near-religious work, a 'Play for the Consecration of the Stage’, as he called it. It would be a mystical fusion of text, drama and music, a piece of Total Art that would transform the lives of all who listened to its universal message. It was his final, and perhaps greatest work: a world of shimmering, fathomless colours and aching harmonies, a fusion of white-hot inspiration and a technique that had reached its peak. Now, for the first time, you can hear it as an Arensky Chamber Orchestra Masterpiece in Miniature, and experience the epic tale of magic, valour and truth, closer and more intimately than you have ever done before:
Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, has returned home shamed and gravely injured. He has been wounded by the evil wizard Klingsor, whilst under the spell of the sorcerer's magical Flowermaidens. Klingsor is a fallen Grail Knight, bent on the destruction of all who have rejected him. He stabbed Amfortas with the same Holy Spear that pierced Christ’s side, and now no one, not Gunermanz, the most senior Grail Knights, nor the mysterious witch Kundry, can heal the wound.
Suddenly knights interrupt Amfortas's suffering and drag in a boy who has been caught killing a Holy Swan. He is reprimanded for his crimes, but on further questioning, reveals he knows neither his own name nor where he comes from. Clearly just a harmless fool, the boy is allowed to share in the Grail Knights mystical rites before he leaves. However, the ceremony is ruined by Amfortas, who will not reveal the Grail out of shame. Even as the boy begins his journey, its holy magic begins to seep from the Realm.
Still nameless he wanders far, reaching Klingsor’s magic castle. Klingsor knows there is more to this boy than meets the eye and orders his knights to attack. But with mysterious power and strength, the boy defeats them all. Next, the Flowermaidens surround him, led by Kundry. Transformed into a beautiful woman, she is now Klingsor’s slave. She calls out his name ‘Parsifal!” and reveals his forgotten past to him, seducing him all the while. Their lips meet, but Parsifal suddenly feels the searing pain of Amfortas’s wounds in his own side and recoils.
Klingsor’s plan is foiled. In his fury, he hurls the Holy Spear at Parsifal but it halts in mid-air, hovering above Parsifal’s head. As he grasps it, Klingsor’s castle crumbles. Kundry vanishes, but not before cursing Parsifal never to find the Grail Knights or save their ailing Kingdom.
It is now Good Friday, many, many years later. The Realm of the Grail is just a shadow of its former glory and Gunermanz is an old, wizened man. At the noise of approaching hooves, he emerges from his hut. A silent, glittering knight, holding a spear approaches, a mystical aura shining about him. Who is this enigmatic figure? And on this holiest of days, does he hold the salvation or destruction of the Realm in his hand?
Can’t wait for October?
Be sure to subscribe to Arensky Chamber Orchestra's pre-concert videos. They feature exclusive content recorded here at the Club, filled with extra stories about the music you’ll be hearing, tantalising audio teasers to get you in the mood and behind the scenes footage featuring interviews with the players as they prepare for the show.
Just visit www.theaco.co.uk and sign yourself up! You can also find the videos on the Hospital Club’s YouTube feed: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThehClubUK
See you on the 14th!
'Deeply Moving’ The Independent ****
'It made you feel as if you were at the centre of an Arctic gale with frost on your chin!’ The Guardian ****
Season passes
We’re offering a brilliant double-concert deal. If you want tickets for both Arensky Chamber Orchestra events this autumn, scroll down to the bottom of the ticket buying page to buy!