Search - Richard [Classical] Wagner, Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra :: Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer

Great cast, teamwork, conducting style

Theodore Shulman | NYC | 12/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hermann Uhde is haunting. He's one of the few Dutchmen on record who doesn't overwhelm, or underwhelm, or whine, or sound geriatric. He has loads of low-resonance foundation to support his ringing top. Like Ferdinand Frantz before him he was a low dark bass who extended his upper register by sheer willpower. Astrid Varnay is haunting too! She gives it, maybe, up to fifty percent of her volume capacity which is about right for the role. Windgassen sounds more gutsy and emotional than his usual cerebral approach to his characters. The least interesting acting comes from Ludwig Weber, but it may not be his fault. It's easy to forget, in the age of Matti Salminen, that Daland is not supposed to be the main character. It's like Masetto, if you distract from the other characters you're not doing your job. Knappertsbusch does just what you would expect: awesome, tender, reverent, natural, slow but not heavy (most of the time)."