Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer

COMPOSERS: Wagner
LABELS: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
ALBUM TITLE: Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer
WORKS: Der fliegende Holländer
PERFORMER: Terje Stensvold, Franz-Josef Selig, Astrid Weber, Jörg Dürmüller, Simone Schröder, Kobie van Rensburg, Cologne WDR Radio Chorus, Prague Chamber Choir, Cappella Coloniensis/Bruno Weil
CATALOGUE NO: 82876 64071 2

Talk about sailing under false colours!



This purports to be the first recording



of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman in its



‘original Paris version’. But there’s no



such thing. What there is is a score



that Wagner began in Paris in 1841



and premiered in Dresden in 1843



but continually revised before and



after that date. Musically, what we get



here is effectively the 1843 Dresden



version but with Senta’s ballad in the



original higher key and with the nowcustomary



cuts imposed to reduce the



work to the one-act form that Wagner



initially conceived but never actually



composed. The twist is that, in this



‘version’, the opera is set in Scotland



– like the Heine tale that inspired it



– rather than the familiar Norway to



which Wagner relocated it shortly



before its premiere. But since this



merely involves two name-changes



in the cast and just two other wordchanges



in the text itself, it’s really



neither here nor there.



Whatever the merits (or otherwise)



of the edition, this is an excitingly



conducted and finely detailed live



concert recording of the composer’s



breakthrough work, brilliantly played



on period instruments (albeit at



modern pitch), with natural horns



and trumpets evocatively deployed



alongside their valved cousins to



distinguish the Dutchman’s elemental



spirit world from modern mundane



reality, and deliciously rippling



woodwind to stir the sails and rigging.



It’s only a pity the opportunity



wasn’t in fact taken to match this



mellower, more delicate soundscape



with consistently lighter, Weber-type



voices. Despite her name, Astrid



Weber as Senta has an unashamedly



heavyweight Wagnerian voice. Yet,



on her own terms, after an initially



squally, ill-pitched assault on her



ballad, she also boasts a reckless daring



that increasingly pays dividends –



unlike Terje Stensvold, her (ironically



Norwegian) Dutchman, who, despite



his impressively well-focused tone



and clear diction, ultimately lacks the



character’s essential air of mystery and



fascination. Mark Pappenheim