Richard Wagner - Wagner - Parsifal (Levine, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra)

The action takes place in the Middle Ages. At the castle of Monsalvat, cut off from the rest of the world, the brotherhood of Grail Knights guards the chalice in which the blood of the crucified Saviour had once been caught. In an effort to seize possession of the Grail, Klingsor, a powerful magician, has established his realm at the foot of the mountain, peopling it with seductive flower maidens who live in a magic garden where many a knight has already come to grief in combating Klingsor's evil ways. It was here that the Grail King Amfortas had succumbed to Kundry a "terribly beautiful woman", who had laughed at the Saviour as he hung on the Cross and who was condemned in consequence to lead a tragic double life as a demonic seductress in Klingsor's realm and a penitential Mary Magdalene in the service of the Grail. In his encounter with Klingsor, Amfortas had not only lost the sacred lance that had once been thrust in the crucified Saviour's side but had been dealt an incurable wound with the selfsame spear. It has been prophesised that Amfortas's wound and, with it, his endless torment can only be cured by a "blameless fool made wise through pity".