Wagner Der Fliegende Holländer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Richard Wagner
Genre:
Opera
Label: Grand Opera
Magazine Review Date: 8/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 145
Mastering:
ADD
Catalogue Number: 417 319-2DM2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Der) Fliegende Holländer, '(The) Flying Dutchman' |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Antál Dorati, Conductor George London, Holländer, Baritone Giorgio Tozzi, Daland, Bass Karl Liebl, Erik, Tenor Leonie Rysanek, Senta, Soprano Richard Lewis, Steersman, Tenor Richard Wagner, Composer Rosalind Elias, Mary, Contralto (Female alto) Royal Opera House Chorus, Covent Garden Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden |
Author: Arnold Whittall
''This now has to be the recommended version'', wrote Alan Blyth, reviewing the medium-price CD reissue of Klemperer's EMI recording of The Flying Dutchman in February. That remains the case, yet there are several reasons why Dorati's account deserves a hearing, and a place on shelves with space and time for more than one Dutchman.
George London is commanding in the title-role, his tone grainy but never dry, his phrasing eloquent, his characterization complete. Despite the recording's modish, early-1960s tendency to place him in the middle distance, London is still able to convey all the necessary weight and passion, save possibly in the later stages of the great Act 2 duet, where Dorati pushes the music forward too impatiently. London's partner here, Leonie Rysanek, might have welcomed this briskness as insurance against uncomfortably lengthy high notes. On the whole, however, her performance has worn better than some early reviewers of the set might have expected—though not AB, who referred to the ''extraordinary intensity'' of her singing at the time of the first LP reissue (2/72). Rysanek's smoky, full-bodied tone may make her an improbably mature-sounding Senta, but, like London, she is a strong asset in a performance which is distinctly studio-bound at times—most obviously in the lacklustre conclusion to Act I.
The remaining solo singers are generally excellent, too. In an extensive survey of the current recordings of the opera (10/72) Deryck Cooke praised ''the intimate tenderness'' of Karl Liebl's Erik: but Liebl also conveys Erik's despair without excessive melodrama. Giorgio Tozzi is not the most sonorous or sinister Daland ever heard on disc, but he provides a good foil to the charismatic London. Antal Dorati is to be commended for using the original one-act version of the score (with Wagner's revised endings for the Overture and the final scene), but his decisons about when to broaden out and when to push on suggest that he was a less than natural Wagnerian: and the sound, recessing the solo singers while still losing orchestral detail, show its age. These are not trivial flaws: yet the finely characterized singing of London and Rysanek remains memorable.'
George London is commanding in the title-role, his tone grainy but never dry, his phrasing eloquent, his characterization complete. Despite the recording's modish, early-1960s tendency to place him in the middle distance, London is still able to convey all the necessary weight and passion, save possibly in the later stages of the great Act 2 duet, where Dorati pushes the music forward too impatiently. London's partner here, Leonie Rysanek, might have welcomed this briskness as insurance against uncomfortably lengthy high notes. On the whole, however, her performance has worn better than some early reviewers of the set might have expected—though not AB, who referred to the ''extraordinary intensity'' of her singing at the time of the first LP reissue (2/72). Rysanek's smoky, full-bodied tone may make her an improbably mature-sounding Senta, but, like London, she is a strong asset in a performance which is distinctly studio-bound at times—most obviously in the lacklustre conclusion to Act I.
The remaining solo singers are generally excellent, too. In an extensive survey of the current recordings of the opera (10/72) Deryck Cooke praised ''the intimate tenderness'' of Karl Liebl's Erik: but Liebl also conveys Erik's despair without excessive melodrama. Giorgio Tozzi is not the most sonorous or sinister Daland ever heard on disc, but he provides a good foil to the charismatic London. Antal Dorati is to be commended for using the original one-act version of the score (with Wagner's revised endings for the Overture and the final scene), but his decisons about when to broaden out and when to push on suggest that he was a less than natural Wagnerian: and the sound, recessing the solo singers while still losing orchestral detail, show its age. These are not trivial flaws: yet the finely characterized singing of London and Rysanek remains memorable.'
Wagner Der Fliegende Holländer
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.