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Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander / Nelsson


Release Date: 08/14/2007 
Label:  Philips   Catalog #: 000942702   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Richard Wagner
Performer:  Lisbeth Balslev,  Simon Estes,  Graham Clark,  Anny Schlemm,   ... 
Conductor:  Woldemar Nelsson
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Bayreuth Festival Orchestra,  Bayreuth Festival Chorus
Number of Discs: 2 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 2 Hours 14 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews



WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer • Woldemar Nelsson, cond; Simon Estes ( The Dutchman ); Lisbeth Balslev ( Senta ); Matti Salminen ( Daland ); Robert Schunk ( Erik ); Graham Clark ( The Steersman ); Anny Schlemm ( Mary ); Bayreuth Festival O & Ch Read more • PHILIPS 000942702 (2 CDs: 144:03 Text and Translation) Live: Bayreuth 1985


If you want a midprice live Dutchman recorded at Bayreuth in decent stereo sound with a libretto, then this recording is almost self-recommending. This set made a good critical impression when first issued in the 1980s, and that reputation is largely maintained.


Woldemar Nelsson is a conductor who seldom made it onto record. Here he conducts the work as a single unified act, to follow Harry Kupfer’s stage production. The disc break therefore slightly interrupts the flow of the second act, given the broad view of the music that is expounded. The orchestra sounds much more at a distance than in other live Bayreuth recordings, notably Böhm’s 1971 Deutsche Grammophon set or Keilberth’s 1955 set, now available on Testament (reviewed in issue 30:4).


Simon Estes’s Dutchman is solid, capable, and clearly suggestive of the Dutchman’s burdens. I do not find him the equal of Böhm’s largely under-rated Thomas Stewart, let alone Keilberth’s Hermann Uhde, in terms of character. Lisbeth Balslev gives her all as Senta, proving that it does not always take a big-name singer to be moving. Gwyneth Jones for Böhm has her moments of slight insecurity, but proves most affecting and effective in quieter passages, where she scores over Keilberth’s Astrid Varnay. Taking the role as a whole though, Balslev does a fine job. Salminen turns in a more imaginatively sung Daland than Karl Ridderbusch for Böhm, but Ridderbusch’s vocal production is nearly always its own best advocate. Robert Schunk, Graham Clark, and Anny Schlemm hold their own creditably amongst their rivals.


FANFARE: Evan Dickerson
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Works on This Recording

1. Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner
Performer:  Lisbeth Balslev (Soprano), Simon Estes (Baritone), Graham Clark (Tenor),
Anny Schlemm (Alto), Robert Schunk (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass)
Conductor:  Woldemar Nelsson
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Bayreuth Festival Orchestra,  Bayreuth Festival Chorus
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1841/1852; Germany 
 Date of Recording: 1985 
Venue:  Live  Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, Germany 
Language: German 

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