Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Der Fliegende Holländer (1843)
Senta – Astrid Varnay (soprano)
The Dutchman – Hermann Uhde (bass-baritone)
Erik – Rudolf Lustig (tenor)
Daland – Ludwig Weber (bass)
Mary – Elisabeth Schärtel (contralto)
The Steersman – Josef Traxel (tenor)
Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra/Joseph Keilberth
rec. live, stereo, assembled from rehearsals, 14, 21 July and performances,
30 July and 3, 6, 15, 19 August 1955, Festspielhaus, Bayreuth.
PRISTINE AUDIO PACO 062 STEREO [2:20:49] 
Despite the plethora of recordings available, a really good, satisfying recording
of Wagner's first true masterpiece is hard to find. Many sets have great virtues
but also concomitant flaws. The greatest Dutchman on record would perhaps
be Hans Hotter in his prime in a 1944 Munich studio broadcast. However Viorica
Ursuleac's treacly soprano is not to all tastes and the sound, while perfectly
tolerable for its age and provenance, is primitive.
I have always considered this Keilberth edition to be the best available even
when I owned it only on mono CDs rather than the three stereo LPs issued in
1976. Previously, if you had to have a stereo recording, the choice was trickier,
as none really leapt out as the best option. I discount two that some swear
by as I am no great fan of either Fischer-Dieskau or Theo Adam, but I do very
much like Anja Silja's febrile Senta which is heard to advantage in what I
consider to be one of the two best stereo recordings: the 1960 studio set
from Decca, which has two great stage animals in George London and Leonie
Rysanek but suffers from Dorati’s rather tame conducting, and the live Bayreuth
recording from 1961 under a youthful, more energised Wolfgang Sawallisch with
the rich-voiced Franz Crass, aging, but characterful, Josef Greindl as Daland
and an otherwise indifferent cast.
However, now that this 1955 Keilberth performance, assembled from various
rehearsals and performances at Bayreuth in July and August in 1955, has been
made available in stereo by Pristine, it takes its place at the head of the
field. It is self-recommending in that it features the superbly vocalised,
deeply anguished Dutchman of the great Hermann Uhde and a tour de force
from Astrid Varnay. Uhde is able to sound almost demented without losing
tonal beauty and Varnay, despite a little trademark scooping, manages to rein
in her Brünnhilde soprano to give us a mystical Senta who really does sound
as if she already has one foot in another world. Some of the supporting cast
are less impressive; the ungrateful role of Erik seems to be cursed on recordings
but Rudolf Lustig is at least tolerable. Ludwig Weber is a bit woolly but
aptly bluff and venal as Daland. Josef Traxel’s light, flexible tenor is very
attractive as the Steersman. The Festival Chorus under Wilhelm Pitz is terrific.
There is nothing in the least of the Kapellmeister in Joseph Keilberth’s assault
on this marvellous score; he cranks up the tension relentlessly and inspires
his performers. As a bonus and to emulate the original LP issue, engineer
Andrew Rose has added an “Introductory Fanfare and Bells” in Ambient Stereo,
derived from the LPs he used to prepare this CD remastering. I have run out
of superlatives to praise his revitalisation of venerable recordings; you
have only to listen to the first ten seconds of that stirring overture to
realise what a difference his XR remastering process makes. This performance
was always arresting even in mono but now it veritably leaps out of the speakers.
Some may wonder why I do not favour a more modern recording. Apart from a
personal antipathy to the two Dutchmen I name above, I do not enjoy Karajan's
weirdly low-key, "symphonic" treatment of the score; it is severely undercast,
with Van Dam singing beautifully but having essentially the wrong voice and in
any case being kept under wraps by Karajan's restrained approach. Clearly any
sense of dramatic tension was compromised by its being recorded
over two years and Karajan's insistence upon Van Dam playing the Dutchman
as an introvert rather compromises the drama. Both Dunja Vejzovic and Peter
Hoffmann are vocally embarrassed by the demands made upon them. She is thin
and unsteady with weak top notes. He bleats and slides with an exceptionally
unattractive, strangulated tone. Neither does Böhm's 1971 recording click
and Solti's 1976 version in Chicago manages to be simultaneously sonically
overblown and interpretatively rather dull - although I think it the best
of the recordings in reasonably modern sound. Norman Bailey, Janis Martin
and Martti Talvela all have the right voices - although Kollo is plain horrible,
I'm afraid. Since then, as far as I'm concerned, despite a number of new recordings,
it has been downhill all the way with nary a voice to challenge the post-war
generation of Wagnerians. This live Bayreuth set is now clearly top of the
heap.
Ralph Moore
This live Bayreuth set is now clearly top of the heap.