Leopold Stokowski seldom ventured into the world of opera but Wagner's "Parsifal" was one music-drama which he did conduct on one occasion. It was given in a concert performance spread over three evenings in Philadelphia during Easter 1933. However, as far as the concert hall and recording studio were concerned, Wagner was a composer whose music Stokowski often played over the years.

In particular, he made what he called 'Symphonic Syntheses' of several of Wagner's music-dramas, purely orchestral tone-poems featuring what he felt were the most inspired passages therein. Here is a typical example, of music from Act 3 of "Parsifal," given in Easter Week 1942 by the NBC Symphony with a brief contribution at the end from the Collegiate Choir. It comes from a 2-CD set issued by Pristine Audio that features three Beethoven symphonies and more orchestral music by Wagner. (Pristine PASC 591).,