Decca’s next Flying Dutchman
OperaIt’s the cast of the Norwegian National opera production, conducted by Ed Gardner.
Lise Davidsen is Senta, Gerald Finley the Dutchman.
Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Erik, Brindley Sherratt as Daland and Anna Kissjudit as Mary
Lise’s management say this is the only time she will ever sing the role.
Yo-ho, to-ho!
Could be stunning!
If I am not mistaken, the whole singers cast works with the same agent. Since “golden times” of Zemsky/Green or Michael Levin I don’t remember such a package-cast.
You are mistaken.
He is mistaken. But it’s worth pointing out how lightly Decca has taken this project.
The label’s first Holländer did not materialize until 1976, when the label was already 47 years old, but it occupied much of a month at Chicago’s Medinah Temple.
Its second entailed sessions in March, June, October and November in 1991 at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and untold editing.
Now in 2024 Decca’s effort amounts to taping two unstaged performances in Oslo’s Operahuset with a leading lady who announces months before, for constructive reasons not shared, that she will drop her role right afterwards.
Boy, times have changed.
You are forgetting the DECCA one with Antal Dorati.
RCA, August 1960, Walthamstow Assembly Hall, later released on Decca. The 1955 Keilberth was also released on Decca but a BR recording.
The 1955 Keilberth recording from Bayreuth appeared on the Decca Eclipse label. I bought it in 1974.
Brindley Sherratt, Decca’s Daland, was “indisposed,” said a German critic in Oslo. This is the kind of problem that plagues live recordings. It would not normally be allowed to affect a serious label effort — but here they relied on two performances only: Aug 22 and 24.
Aren’t all the principal singers with MWA Management?
Not the conductor, who would have had cast approval.
AB stated “singers cast” which would exclude the conductor, so he is not incorrect.
Quite a nice nightly commission for MWA. The guts of a yearly salary for a staff member or two.
What does it matter if they’re with MWA agency? They’re all fantastic singers and I’m sure the recording will be great!
Not sure we really need another Dutchman, but in any event it’s nice to know that opera is still be recorded.
That’s correct. The world does not need another Dutchman. This one carries all the markings of a bore.
Perhaps, but recordings serve as a record of specific artists in specific eras. Voices and tastes change.
Let’s wait to see the results. It would be a shame if one day we lament the fact that there is not enough documentation of these singers.
“It would be a shame if one day we lament the fact that there is not enough documentation of these singers.”
Lament? Get real.
Two concert performances were recorded at Den Norske Operan this past weekend. Earwitness reports were enthusiastic.