 | Over the top, like Wagner wrote it.
rating: 5
This is a well-conducted, well-sung performance that, due to the director,stage designer and TV director becomes a great DVD. This is the first performance of Fliegende Hollander I have seen that is faithful to the almost insane intensity of Wagner's creation. Realistically, how does one make sense of Senta? Kupfer's brooding, internal, dreaming, romantic/compassionate heroine matches the self-focused dreaming of Wagner's longing for a "perfect woman", loving, attracted to him, yet eternally nurturant. The staging illuminates the work" the first appearance of the Dutchman's ship is chilling; Estes and Bailey make their duet an ecstatic dance of two people longing to meet yet dodging the meeting.
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Matti Salminen steals the show
rating: 4
This performance should be titled: "The Story of the Sea Captain Who Sells his Daughter."
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The best performer
rating: 2
Listen "HOLLANDER... from this Complette - Wagner: Complete Operas
Label: Membran / Documents Catalog #: 223053
Composer: Richard Wagner
Performer: Franz Klarwein, Luise Willer, Viorica Ursuleac, Georg Hann, Hans Hotter,
Karl Ostertag, August Seider, Karl Paul, Margarete Bäumer, Marianne Schech,
Otto von Rohr, Benno Kusche, Eleanor Steber, Josef Greindl, Hans Braun,
Hermann Uhde, Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Bodo Brinkmann, Tiny Peters,
Ortrun Wenkel, Wolfgang Neumann, Carla Pohl, Zlatomira Nikolova, Frode Olsen,
Gabriele Maria Ronge, Edward Cook, Malcolm Smith, John Wegner, Simon Yang,
Wilja Ernst-Mosuraitis, Hans-Jorg Weinschenk, Oleg Bryjak, Markku Tervo, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,
Ludwig Suthaus, Kirsten Flagstad, Edgar Evans, Blanche Thebom, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf,
Otto Edelmann, Hans Hopf, Erich Kunz, Ira Malaniuk, Gerhard Unger,
Arnold Van Mill, George London, Ludwig Weber, Martha Mödl, Erna Schlüter,
Gunther Treptow, Helmut Fehn, Trude Eipperle, Rudolf Gonszar, Willy Hofmann,
Josef Lindlar, Artur Korn, Raimo Sirkiä, Manuela Kriscak, Jyrki Korhonen,
Ulrike Sonntag, Sue Patchell, Willy Friedrich, Hannelore Steffek, Kurt Equiluz,
Ludwig Welter, Anton Dermota, Hilde Zadek, Franz Handlos, Ernst Salzer
Conductor: Clemens Krauss, Robert Heger, Joseph Keilberth, Günter Neuhold, Wilhelm Furtwängler,
Herbert von Karajan, Hans Knappertsbusch, Winfried Zillig, Gabor Otvos
Orchestra/Ensemble: Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Bavarian State Opera Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra,
Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Badische State Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden Chorus,
Philharmonia Orchestra, Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, Cagliari Theater Chorus,
Cagliari Theater Orchestra, Austrian Radio Chorus, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Number of Discs: 43
Recorded in: Mixed
Imported from: European Union
This -more ,that i waiting.
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Intro to Wagner
rating: 4
I have never seen nor heard a Wagnerian opera before and was intimidated, but wanted to try. Dutchman was his shortest opera and most "traditional" so I thought it would be a good introduction for me.
I believe that I was correct. I enjoyed this opera a great deal, perhaps even more than I expected to.
My main complaint for this opera is Senta. The woman who sang her role looked crazy the entire time, like a patient escaped from a mental hospital. Perhaps that was the intent, but it detracted from my enjoyment. It was not making the whole thing her dream that bothered me but the deranged look she had on her face the entire time and her spasmodic movements.
The rest of the cast was good though it was odd to see a black man repeatedly referred to as pale. {For what it's worth, for all the white Aida's who've worn make-up to look black, why couldn't Estes have worn make-up to look "pale"?}
For me, this opera met its objectives. I have heard a Wagnerian opera and enjoyed it. I am looking forward to broadening my listening horizons further. A few years from now I may even be ready to listen to the Ring!
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hmmmm
rating: 1
Edited to say: I'm changing my mind - I watched it again, and liked it a little better. To be fair, I have to be grateful this dvd exists, it documents an important performance, and this Harry Kupfer staging seems to be an important moment in the development of the whole "Regietheater" thing.
It is an interesting premise to make the whole story the fantasy of a sick mind, however, as Peter Konwitchny points out, in an interview about his own different (also Regietheater) staging of the opera for Munich -- to put the whole story in the mind of Senta -- belittles the real human tragedy - the struggle to love and trust, the failure to trust....
So, I am glad this video exists, and glad I watched it, but in final analysis, well, I was not in love with the staging, no, and not really in love with the singers -- they did fine jobs, but and am eager to get my hands on the video with Flying Dutchman from the Vienna Staatsoper with Nina Stemme and Falk Struckman to make up for it.
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