Decca / Testament - SBTLP3 1384  - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Deluxe Box Set - 28 Page Booklet - Mastered at Abbey Road  

Joseph Keilberth Der fliegende Holländer 3LP set – Decca - SBTLP 31384

 

Testament has revived these classic titles from the EMI catalog using only the original EMI master tapes,cut onto lacquer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios and mastered using full analog techniques throughout production.

 

One of the most acclaimed Wagner productions of the postwar period, The Flying Dutchman, features a breathtakingly intense opera performance, here by the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of Joseph Keilberth as it was recorded live in 1955 in stereo by Kenneth Wilkinson. This three-LP box set includes a detailed 28-page booklet with information and pictures to satisfy any enthusiast. Typical of most Deccas and Wilkinson efforts, the recording quality is outstanding, and the remastering job for this 2007 issue does not disappoint.

 

At Bayreuth, Decca and their German subsidiary Teldec had already recorded Parsifal and an unreleased Ring Cycle in 1951, and Lohengrin in 1953. During the "off" years of 1952 and 1954 they had negotiated unsuccessfully with Wolfgang Wagner of the Festival management and with EMI to record the Ring under Joseph Keilberth. The project foundered on the seven-year exclusivity clause that EMI had established over Bayreuth performances of the work, when they released an act of the Ring from the 1951 Festival. Wolfgang, however, had backed Decca's case as much as he could and readily gave his assent to a recording of his new production of Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman), which opened the Festival in 1955.

 

 The company had already established a successful microphone placing for recording at the Festspielhaus in mono – largely due to the placement by engineer Kenneth Wilkinson of a single English RK2 condenser microphone high up in the theatre. "In view of Decca's sound, I fear competition when our own records are released," Walter Legge had minuted EMI's internal departments in 1952. Now in 1955 Decca planned to extend their operations by experimentally taping the performances in stereo as well, using further cunning microphone placings by engineer Roy Wallace. At some point in the spring of 1955 they believed, mistakenly, that a legal loophole had been found in EMI's 1951 exclusivity clause, and decided to record the Ring as well, although after the tapes had been edited back in West Hampstead, the project was again shelved, probably because of John Culshaw's already declared campaign to make a studio cycle with Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic.

 

Is it or isn't it a great Dutchman? It's hard to tell from the reviews. When first released in 1955, this Die fliegende Holländer with Astrid Varnay as Senta, Ludwig Weber as Daland, and Hermann Uhde in the title role plus Joseph Keilberth leading the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus was praised for its singing and slighted for its conducting. When re-released in the early '70s, it was still praised, though with some reservations for its singing, nearly panned for its conducting, and thoroughly condemned for being recorded live instead of in the studio as had become the norm. So how did it sound reissued for the first time in stereo in 2006? The singing sounded better than ever, although clearly of its time. Uhde was a powerful and sympathetic Dutchman, Weber a warm and lyrical Daland, and Varnay, like no later singer who took the part, was a full-bodied, full-throated, and full-throttled Senta. The conducting, however, sounded more unsatisfying than ever. Although his overture was exciting enough, Keilberth proved far more an accompanist than a leader, and while his approach granted the singers much greater interpretive freedom, it also failed to recognize that in Wagner, especially in early Wagner, the orchestra is just as important to the drama as the singers -- perhaps even more so. But the sound itself sounded far better than it ever had before. Testament, the superlative English historical reissue label, has returned to the world on LP a far cleaner, far clearer, and far more vivid recording of the 1995 Holländer than any previous issue. Although fans of the work will have to check this recording out, those unfamiliar with the work may want to try other versions first. 5/5 LPReview

 

 

Musicians:

Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra

Joseph Keilberth, conductor

 

Selections:

Overture

1. Act One, Scene One/ Erster Aufzug, Erste Szene

2. Act One, Scene Two/ Erster Aufzug, Erste Szene

3. Act One, Scene Three (beginning)/ Erster Aufzug, Dritte Szene (Anfang)

4. Act One, Scene Three (concluded)/ Erster Aufzug, Dritte Szene (Ende)

5. Act Two, Scene One (beginning)/ Zweiter Aufzug, Erste Szene (Anfang)

6. Act Two, Scene One (concluded)/ Zweiter Aufzug, Erste Szene (Ende)

7. Act Two, Scene Two / Zweiter Aufzug, Zweite Szene

8. Act Two, Scene Three (beginning)/ Zweiter Aufzug, Dritte Szene (Ende)

9. Act Two, Scene Three (concluded)/ Zweiter Aufzug, Dritte Szene (Ende)

10. Act Three, Scene One (beginning)/ Dritter Aufzug, Erste Szene (Anfang)

11. Act Three, Scene One (concluded)/ Dritter Aufzug, Erste Szene (Ende)

12. Act Three, Scene Two / Dritter Aufzug, Zweit Szene