Warner Classics: Wagner — Der Fliegende Holländer | Klemperer, Adam, Silja, New Philharmonia Orchestra (2CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD (2-disc set)
• Brand / Label: Warner Classics / Parlophone Records Limited
• Composer: Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
• Conductor: Otto Klemperer
• Orchestra: New Philharmonia Orchestra
• Chorus: BBC Chorus
• Original Recording Year: 1968
• Remastered: 2000 (digital remastering)
• Release Year: 2016 (this edition)
• Genre: Classical / Opera
• Style: Romantic Opera
• UPC / Barcode: 0825646908066
• Condition: New / Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: 2 × CD
• Discs: 2
• CD1 runtime: 75 minutes 58 seconds
• CD2 runtime: 76 minutes 09 seconds
• Total runtime: approx. 152 minutes
• Booklet: English text & synopsis / Deutscher Text & Handlung / Texte & synopsis en français
• Packaging: Standard double jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped

Overview

When this recording first appeared in 1968, Gramophone magazine declared it "as perfect as we have any right to demand." More than fifty years on, the assessment holds.

Otto Klemperer conducts at his characteristic tempo — broad, deliberate, each phrase given full weight — and the effect on Wagner's storm-tossed opera is remarkable. Der Fliegende Holländer is sometimes taken at a dramatic clip, the Dutchman's curse rushing headlong toward its resolution. Klemperer refuses that urgency. He lets the weight of the opera settle, and in doing so reveals architecture that faster performances obscure.

Theo Adam's Dutchman is the other pillar of the recording. His baritone is dark and controlled, and he inhabits the role with a world-weariness that goes beyond the theatrical — this is a man genuinely tired of existing. Anja Silja's Senta is the ideal counterpart: young, intense, almost frightening in her conviction. The supporting cast — Martti Talvela as Daland, Ernst Kozub as Erik, Gerhard Unger as the Steersman, Annelies Burmeister as Mary — is strong throughout.

The 2000 digital remastering is clean and well-balanced, and the BBC Chorus brings exactly the collective weight and drama the choral writing demands.

This 2016 Warner Classics reissue in the "Home of Opera" series makes one of the essential post-war Wagner recordings widely available again at a sensible price.

Interesting Facts

• Otto Klemperer (1885–1973) was a close associate of Mahler in his early career and went on to become one of the defining conductors of the 20th century; his late recordings for EMI — including this one — are considered among his greatest achievements.
• Theo Adam (born 1926, Dresden) was the leading German bass-baritone of his generation, closely associated with the Bayreuth Festival and the Wagner repertoire throughout his career.
• Anja Silja was discovered and championed by the producer/director Wieland Wagner (Richard Wagner's grandson), and her 1960s recordings for EMI under Klemperer remain benchmarks in several Wagner roles.
• Martti Talvela (1935–1989), the Finnish bass who sang Daland on this recording, was one of the most imposing operatic voices of the 20th century — his combination of physical presence and vocal depth was essentially unique.
• Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) was first performed in Dresden in 1843 and was Wagner's breakthrough work, the first opera to show the mature characteristics of his later style.
• The opera is based on a legend of a cursed sea captain doomed to sail the oceans forever unless redeemed by a faithful woman's love — a theme of redemption through sacrifice that runs through nearly all of Wagner's mature work.

Track Listing

CD 1 — 75'58" Act I & Act II (partial)

CD 2 — 76'09" Act II (conclusion) & Act III

Cast:

• Der Holländer (Dutchman): Theo Adam
• Senta: Anja Silja
• Daland: Martti Talvela
• Erik: Ernst Kozub
• Mary: Annelies Burmeister
• Der Steuermann (Steersman): Gerhard Unger

Publishers

Original recording: ℗ 1968. Digital remastering: © 2000 Parlophone Records Limited, a Warner Music Group Company. This edition: © 2016 Parlophone Records Limited, a Warner Music Group Company. Published under Warner Classics.

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