Parzival

On sait davantage aujourd’hui que le Christianisme et l’Islam, au Moyen-Age, ne se sont pas seulement affrontés, et que, s’affrontant, ils ne se sont pas seulement combattus. Des signes concordants et sûrs attestent qu’il y eut, entre leurs élites responsables, par-delà l’anathème et le combat, non pas seulement des échanges de surface ou de rencontre, mais une conjonction spirituelle véritable où l’intellectualité islamique joua, pendant des siècles, le rôle d’inspirateur et de guide. …

Excellent five CD set containing albums from a quintet of Krautrock's finest bands packaged in mini LP sleeves and housed in a slipcase. Includes Parzival's Legend, L.A. Dusseldorf's Viva and self-titled albums from Message, Asterix and Gift…

The expected diversity of these compilations is given again. No matter if it is the Petards, who founded the fundaments for Krautrock already in the late 60's, or Straight Shooter with their early 80's hard-rock, each kind of music is present. Electronic music with Neu!, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Faust and Michael Rother turns to pure psychedelic like Guru Guru, Brainticket or Nine Days Wonder. Prog fans will love Nektar, Anyone's Daughter and Parzival, while rockers will enjoy Murphy Blend, Eloy, Harlis and many others. To say it clear - there is something for everyone!

Parsifal (WWV 111) is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, a 13th-century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail (12th century). Wagner first conceived the work in April 1857 but did not finish it until twenty-five years later. It was Wagner's last completed opera and in composing it he took advantage of the particular acoustics of his Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Parsifal was first produced at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. The Bayreuth Festival maintained a monopoly on Parsifal productions until 1903, when the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

“Fragments“ is by far the most RPWL-like solo effort: self-indulgent midtempo songs with gripping Floyd-like harmony vocals form its cornerstones, like in “Wide World“. As insiders know, this is no wonder, since the multiplayer Postl contributes a lot to the creation of RPWL-songs, even though he is officially “just“ RPWL’s bassist. The other longtracks like “Longings End“ and “Skylights“ (like “Wide World“ adorned with Bairnsons guitar artwork) also show Postl’s penchant for prog-Genesis’ latter days, which manifests itself in “Longings End“ with corresponding guitar arpeggios and in “Skylights“ with mellotron, a trademark vocal line and classical acoustic guitar parts echoing the spherical moments on “Trick of the Tail“…