Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer

Richard Wagner (Artist), Giuseppe Sinopoli (Artist), Plácido Domingo (Artist), Cheryl Studer (Artist), Hans Sotin (Artist), Peter Seiffert (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 11, 1998)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000009ON2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,079 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential modern Wagner performance., August 26, 1999

By 

Emmanuel "lebaut" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Audio CD)

Here is the perfect answer to the Beckmessers who keep saying that no Wagner recording of today can match the historical recordings of the 50's and the 60's. For this may, in fact, be the best Fliegende Holländer ever. Well... of course, as far as vocal power and musical intelligence are concerned, Weikl can't rival the supreme Hotter - or even the brutish London -. But still, his presence is real, and he uses the occasional weaknesses of his ageing voice to compose a deep and haunted and attaching character. As for Sotin, who can be a most routine-minded singer if badly conducted, he will seem rather transfigured to those who have seen him in Bayreuth, as he takes full advantage of his still very beautiful voice to explore all the aspects of Daland's character. But the true marvels of this album lie elsewhere. The first jewel is undoubtedly Domingo's performance, which simply eclipses all the Eriks of the whole discography : the incredible beauty, the unimaginable warmth and the baffling youth of the voice, along with the incandescence of the incarnation alone would make this album worth buying. But they are more than matched by a young Studer at her best, in what may be her best recorded opera performance. One doesn't know what to praise most : the purity, the power and the magnificence of the voice, the extreme commitment of the artist (who shows once more that, though limited as an actress on stage, she can convey an immense range of emotions with her only voice) or her capacity to impose, with her own, specific abilities, a completely new vision of Senta's character - a sort of child-woman, lost in her dreams but with an incredibly strong personality -. But all of that would certainly not have been possible without the iron hand of a fantastic project manager. Imposing a lightning tension from the very beginning of the Overture, Maestro Sinopoli never releases his grip until the very end of the opera, and manages to keep the listener's full attention to the drama from the very first note to the very last, thus delivering an amazing lesson of how young Wagner should be conducted - somewhere between Dorati's italianism end Klemperer's romantism, but with more dramatic sense than the first, and less German heaviness than the second -. So... good news : for once, you won't have to make do with the cracklings of a live recording from 40 years ago to enjoy a Wagner opera at its best !

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best modern Dutchman, in great sound, September 24, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Audio CD)

The Flying Dutchman has always been a conductor's opera. The orchestral writing is stormy and dramatic, the overture a great showpiece, the third act full of ensemble work for the chorus. Sinopoli masters all these aspects of the opera and is aided by wonderful, natural recorded sound.

His cast includes a great lyrical Senta in Cheryl Studer and stellar casting in Domingo as the hapless lover Eric. Everyone in fact is so good that this would be a unsurpassed modern Dutchman if it weren't for Weikl in the lead role. Germany ra out of first-rate Wagner baritones for a while, and Weikl filled the void as best he could. He has a good solid voice but a stolid sense of characerization--his cursed sea captain doesn't resonate with suffering or mythical loneliness. But in his middle-of-the-road way Weikl is far from being bad, and all around him you get an absolutely riveting rpoduction.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Dutchman, January 10, 2006

By 

Eric S. Kim (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer (Audio CD)

Sinopoli's rendition of Wagner's first successful opera, Der Fliegende Hollander, is something that (almost) everyone should own. The orchestral feeling of the stormy sea is both enchanting and furious at the same time. Cheryl Studer is magnificient when singing Senta's Ballad, and Placido Domingo does what he does best as Erik. The choir and the orchestra are in top form and the fast tempi Sinopoli chooses is well done and exhilarating.

I don't know about the other two reviewers that gave this CD one and two stars out of five, but this Hollander is here to stay. And stay away from James Levine's rendition; it's so slow that you'll fall asleep right after the Overture.