Customer Reviews

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer ( The Flying Dutchman)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't help myself... Karajan just does it for me. He's not for everyone, but I've heard too many wonderful works of his to every doubt he's a conducting genious. This "Hollander" is no exception. An underrated work, to be sure. Karajan outdoes himself with a lavish performance and the Berliner Philharmonic was never better. The only reason I didn't give this recording a '5' is that the voices are far subdued in some passages, almost to the point of being inaudible. The voices are quite satisfactory, though probably not a 'premier' cast. I'm quite pleased with this edition and I highly recommend it for any Karajan fan.

There's not much to add to the perceptive reviews listed below. Karajan's 1980s Flying Dutchman was a troubled project, like his Lohengrin. Both suffer from casting problems and both took years before he allowed their release. I suppose he wanted every major Wagner opera to be included in his recorded legacy, and so far as the condcuting goes, this is the best Flying Durchman recorded in the modern era (along with the Klemperer, also on EMI and afflicted with inadequate voices). The Overture is hair-raising, and the Berlin Phil. plays with extraordinary power throughout.

Mention should be made of the excellent chorus--both the women's Spinning Chorus and the men's more extensive sailors' choruses are highlights of this set. Karajan favored Jose Van Dam for almost two decades, but here his expert singing is defeated by an inability to sound tragic or even very personal. His baritonal timbre is too light for this quintessentially bass role. Senta, as sung by Vejzovic, is squawly and ill-tempered, more an Ortrud than a Senta. She sings without vibrato and is often just off pitch. Peter Hoffmann sounds weak and wobbbly as Erik. Even Kurt Moll makes for a sonorous but dull-witted Daland.

Yet no one but the Senta is a disaster, and even if the listener comes away with a case of "what might have been," Karajan's contribution is magnificent.

In a nutshell - this is one of the best Dutchman recordings. Van Dam is in stupendous voice here and fully captures the tortured nature of the character. The best sung Dutchman on disc. Moll is without peer and makes the most of the smallish role of Daland. Vejzovic is a vibrant, dramatically thrilling Senta, with the hint of occasional strain on high only adding to the obsessional interpretation she gives. Hofmann is in fine form as Erik, producing an effortless stream of golden-voiced heldentenor sound. The digital recording is demonstration quality and Karajan really delivers an electrifying reading, producing gorgeous waves of sound from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. A must have recording for Wagnerians.

Much has been said in other reviews about the shortcomings of Hofmann and Vejzovic, so I won't beat on them needlessly, except to say that I can't for the life of me figure out why they sang with such uncertain voices: they were in their very early forties then, not quite an age to shelve a Wagnerian, and had sung more difficult roles with great success just few years prior. But I'd like to bring up a point I don't see mentioned elsewhere: this is Karajan's show all the way. It's almost as if he didn't care about Wagner's intent: he is dead set on giving his strings that extraordinary, celebrated shimmer in the pianissimi, whether it is appropriate or not, and he succeeds, even though the opera unravels in the process. Mind you, I am a huge fan of the conductor, but here he misses the mark entirely. With longish tempi, hushed voices (Senta is occasionally barely audible), and delicate phrasing, Karajan transforms this savage, thrillingly "scary" work into an elegant, sophisticated Viennese exercise in subtlety, sort of a la Richard Strauss circa "Intermezzo." No one is allowed to cross the borders of good taste; why, even the Dutchman himself enters sotto voce and is never allowed much more than that. His "conversation" with Senta - essentially a contract between a cursed soul and his sacrificial lamb - becomes a subdued, calm affair. True, eventually all hell breaks loose, but this is due to special effects, not singing or even the orchestra's superb playing. It really comes down to that: if you want an orchestral sound that's short of sublime, you probably won't do better. But if singing and interpretation are of import, this is not a Karajan show that Wagner would be happy with.

This is a recording of a fantastic opera which fails to deliver what the work deserves. Fans of van Dam or Moll will be happy to hear their favorite singer, but fans of Wagner may wish to look elsewhere.

Karajan is infamous for casting voices inappropriately, usually casting small voices for large roles. Besides Jose van Dam's title role and Kurt Moll's Daland, both of which are excellently done, the roles are poorly cast.

Vejzovic's Senta is inaccurate at times, as is Hofmann's Eric. They cannot even sing all their notes correctly. Karajan most probably miscast these voices himself. Both sounded vastly overmatched by Wagner's powerful score. This is a difficult opera in the first place, of course, but our soprano and tenor do not help it succeed.

Van Dam sings the title role nicely, perhaps dramatically different than one might expect, but agreeably. To buy this set is to support his performance. Kurt Moll is an operatic god, but unfortunately sings a small role. A Kurt Moll fan will be happy nonetheless to hear his voice here.

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra members play very well, and very cleanly. Karajan's control is excellent, and his interpretation interesting and dramatic at times, but unfortunately, one gets the sense he sometimes slows the pace, introducing unduly long fermati between phrases in difficult arias, to let his poorly-chosen Senta and Erik meet Wagner's challenge. I regret to say they don't.

A listener might wish to try the relatively recent release by Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, with Morris, Voigt, and Heppner, all of whom do a wonderful job, for an enjoyable recording.

The sound quality is so great in this recording; I hear extra parts in the orchestra which are usually not heard in other recordings. In particular, the lower woodwind, like the cor anglais and bassoons come out clearly with really interesting little things.

For the singers: I think van Dam is superb; nice clear singing, good legato style, and no harshness. Vejvovic and Moll are fine; Hoffmann was never great, but is bearable here. The chorus is very clear too.

So of the 9 Dutchman recordings I have, this one ranks near the top (with Sinopoli/DG and Nelsson/Philips).

Source: Studio recording. From the fact that it was recorded partly in December 1981 in Berlin, then in March 1982 in Salzburg, and finally in September 1983, back in Berlin again, it appears that this "Dutchman" had a difficult or perhaps stormy birth.

Sound: 1980s digital stereo. The recorded sound is clear and crisp, as might be expected. Purely as a matter of personal taste, I think it provides an over-reverberant soundscape for the voices.

Cast: Der Hollaender - Jose Van Dam; Daland - Kurt Moll; Senta - Dunja Vejzovic; Erik - Peter Hofmann; Der Steuermann - Thomas Moser; Mary - Kaja Borris. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor.

Format: Disk 1: Overture, Act I, tracks 2-6; Act II, tracks 7-8;76:29. Disk 2: Act II (continued), tracks 1-7; Act III, tracks 8-12; 69:43.

Text: This performance uses the standard text, which is essentially the three-act version performed for King Ludwig II in Munich, December 1864.

First off, let me speak to the committed Karajan fans. This is Herr Doktor von K in the 1980s. He's become a little slower but he's still fully himself, and he's conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. That is worth five stars to you. Now, go away while I explain to everyone else why this recording is mediocre.

The prime and true begetter of the problems with this recording is Herbert von Karajan. At this stage of his career, he seems to have concluded that Wagner wrote long symphonies with vocal lines of relatively minor interest. Since Wagner, when he finally got everything under his own control, famously hid his orchestra away in a covered pit, it would appear that the composer held a different opinion from that of the conductor.

Karajan, whose prestige and authority were such that he could and should have had the finest singers in the world, settled for a cast of no great distinction. They are not bad, mind you, but fifty years from now, nobody--nobody--will be recalling them as luminaries of a golden age of Wagnerian singing.

The best of the bunch are confined to supporting roles. Kurt Moll serves as the cast's distinguished old pro as Daland--not a part, unfortunately, to carry the opera. Thomas Moser, in the tiny part of the Steersman, actually shows some hints of liveliness before he effectively disappears. Peter Hoffman as Erik certainly looked like a Wagnerian hero. Throughout his career he was a magnet for reviews that started off by saying, "He was not Vickers (or not Windgassen, or not Whoever) but he was all right." Well, on this recording he isn't a particularly memorable Wagnerian tenor, but he is all right--if you don't mind a little straining here and there. Dunja Vejzovic, as Senta, offers a perfect match for Hofmann, alas. Then there is Jose Van Dam, upon whose shoulders the opera must ride. He gives a good, solid, unobjectionable performance that is utterly devoid of the magic and mystery that is the very nature of the Dutchman. He sings pleasingly enough, no question of that, but when he is finished, his Dutchman is instantly forgettable.

Such, then, is the cast, but Karajan has given us more, a true double-whammy, for he seldom allows us to hear them. The recording is balanced to ensure that every time the orchestra swells in volume it utterly overwhelms the singers, something that could only have happened by the specific direction of the all-powerful conductor. Among other consequences, this has the strange effect of turning the lightly-accompanied, Gilbert and Sullivanesque spinning chorus at the beginning of Act II into one of the most impressive vocal displays in the opera. That is very nice for the Chorus of the Vienna State Opera--a superb body of singers, I hasten to state--but, I think, hardly Wagner's intention.

There you have it. If you are a Karajan groupie, if you love great choral singing, if you wish to be impressed by the brilliant Berlin Philharmonic at their best, this is "Der fliegende Hollaender" for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere. There are a lot of good Dutchmen sailing the recorded seas, both modern and historic.