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DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER
(THE FLYING DUTCHMAN)
By Richard Wagner
VIDEO: Robert Hale, Julia Varady, Peter Seiffert,
Ryhaenen; Sawallisch conducting; Bavarian Staatsoper, 1991; EMI
77801; By coincidence(?), Sawallisch has led most of the better
recordings of this opera for the last forty years; in this VIDEO, he
and his superb cast, dominated by soprano Varady's haunting Senta,
achieve results possibly superior(!) to any of his AUDIO sets from
the 50s and 60s! Even though bass-baritone Hale's Holländer is
less than thrilling, tiring somewhat at the end, he's, at least,
musical enough not to detract from the experience of a superb cast
that is uniformly well-matched to its roles, Peter Seiffert's Erik,
in particular, being, possibly, the finest of the past fifty or sixty
years; this VIDEO, in addition, preserves a finely directed
production of Wagner's first real masterpiece; the basics of
characterization and development are worked out brilliantly and the
result is riveting from beginning to end [G.R.]
AUDIO: A) PREISER: Joel Berglund, Maria Mueller,
Franz Voelker, Ludwig Hofmann, R. Kraus conducting ("live" at
Bayreuth, 1942); here, compared to the video, the shoe is on the
other foot: a superb Holländer and an overparted Senta; Berglund
is arguably the finest Holländer in any complete recording:
untiring, unfailingly musical, always responsive to the text, with
that special nobility and inner poise, both of voice and of style,
that is so elusive in later interpreters; Mueller is as responsive
and heartfelt as Berglund, and she was one of the finest
jugendliche sopranos of her generation, but that is the
problem: she is a jugendliche and not a dramatic; Senta is
clearly too heavy for her; in addition, Mueller is past her prime
here: one unquestionably musical phrase can frequently get offset by
one ungainly lunge above the staff -- a shame, and exacerbated by her
general fatigue from a role that is already too heavy for her to
begin with; somehow, she manages some strong, inspiring phrases
during the Act III confrontation with Eric before succumbing to
complete vocal fatigue for the final moments of the opera; both
Voelker's Erik and Hofmann's Daland, Senta's father, also show some
vocal decline, though Hofmann can still pull it together for some
pretty impressive solo work from time to time; Richard Kraus's
conducting is authoritative enough, though undercut by appalling
inadequacies in the much-vaunted Bayreuth chorus -- evidently,
standards fell victim to wartime hardships; though this remains the
closest-to-satisfactory of all the AUDIO sets, the VIDEO
[above] remains the best performance of all; good mono
[G.R.]
B-1) PREISER: Hans Hermann Nissen, Margarete Teschemacher,
Torsten Ralf, Ludwig Weber, Leonhardt conducting ("live" radio studio
aircheck at Stuttgart, 1936); vocally, as an overall ensemble, this
is almost as solid as the VIDEO and possibly superior to
AUDIO A; however, Leonhardt's conducting is fairly
perfunctory, and neither Nissen nor Teschemacher seem that much into
their parts; Nissen is in utter vocal and musical command, yes, but
although Teschemacher's fresh vocal estate is welcome, her basic
sound is even more unsuited than Mueller's on A, compounded by
none of the compensatory commitment: gleaming, secure top is offset
by narrow, constricted low; if everything here were as assured, both
vocally and dramatically, as Ralf's Eric and Weber's Daland, this
would be an easy top choice; as it is, the whole is less than the sum
of its parts; surprisingly good sound for this vintage: one suspects
it may come from station archives rather than a wireless; mono
[G.R.]
B-2) PHILIPS: Franz Crass, Anja Silja, Fritz Uhl, Josef
Greindl, Sawallisch conducting ("live" at Bayreuth, 1961); a suitably
dominating Holländer (Crass, the finest Holländer in modern
sound) versus an accomplished, musical and committed Senta (Silja)
who starts tiring towards the end of Act II; still and all, the two
of them make the most convincing partnership on CD, with Silja --
when at her best -- surpassing Mueller on A; it's in the
supporting cast where this set yields to the PREISER with Berglund;
Fritz Uhl's pedestrian Erik -- despite the problems of Voelker's
over-the-hill Erik on A -- does not match his Bayreuth
predecessor of 1942, and Greindl's Daland, showing an awesome
instrument here but, alas, an awesome wobble as well, is no match for
Hofmann's still-distinguished Daland on A; Sawallisch's fine
conducting is, as in the VIDEO, assured; stereo [G.R.]
C) MELODRAM: George London, Leonie Rysanek, Fritz Uhl,
Josef Greindl, Sawallisch conducting ("live" at Bayreuth, 1959); and
here we have the finest Senta available on CD; Rysanek, at her best,
set the standard for this part; London's Holländer cannot match
Crass, let alone Berglund, and he is not even as musical as Hale on
the VIDEO, but at least he maintains a strong presence and is
relatively free of some of the pitch problems that dogged so much of
his career; the rest of the cast is pretty much the same as in
B-2, but they are in slightly fresher vocal shape here;
Sawallisch's conducting continues superb [G.R.]
D) MEMORIES: Franz Crass, Leonie Rysanek, Claude Heater,
Karl Ridderbusch, Sawallisch conducting ("live" at La Scala, 1966);
here, both principals (Crass's Holländer and Rysanek's Senta)
are genuine vocal giants, and the last scene is incomparable, but
it's a bumpy, bumpy road before we get there; Rysanek isn't even
warmed up until past the point where Silja on B-2 starts to
tire(!), which means that well over half her role is compromised (she
just couldn't seem to really get in stride); Ridderbusch's Daland is
an improvement on Greindl's in B-2 and C, but Heater's
uniformly off-pitch braying as Erik is even more disconcerting than
Greindl's wobble; mono [G.R.]
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