Wagner - Der Fliegende Holl?nder
by Woldemar Nelsson, Harry Kupfer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anny Schlemm, Graham Clark, Lisbeth Balslev, Matti Salminen, Simon EstesDirector: Harry Kupfer, Woldemar Nelsson
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: German (Original Language), DTS 5.1; English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Mandarin Chinese (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Classical, Color, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Wagner - Der Fliegende Holl?nder
Movie Review: Senta at the center
Summary: 5 Stars
In staging this opera, Harry Kupfer makes a single radical decision that drives the production like a full force gale: he presents the appearance of the Dutchman as Senta's delusion. She fixes on the romantic legend of a sailor doomed to roam the seas forever until he can be saved by a woman's love in order to escape from the confines of the life she is destined for, and to assuage the pain of her love for a huntsman, Erik, who loves her in return, but whose poverty insures that her father will reject him as a suitable husband.
Kupfer makes this work by having Senta on stage continually from the outset. Even during the overture she is shown waiting out the storm with her nurse Mary and the women of the village, cradling the portrait of the Dutchman.
Thus an inevitable conflict starts to take shape between Senta's fantasy world and the oppressive realities of her existence. As it unfolds, we witness something far more like Ibsen than anything previously associated with Wagner. Yet what is remarkable is how well everything else in the opera conspires with this new view. For example, the Dutchman's wealth is an essential part of Senta's delusion because it assures her father's consent to the match, thus allowing her to be a good daughter even as she finds romantic fulfillment--something not possible with Erik.
The end of the opera is devastating: tragedy rather than romantic apotheosis. In a traditional production, the Dutchman believes that Senta is unfaithful to him because he sees her with Erik. But Senta is telling her former lover to leave her. Does the Dutchman require that she not even talk to other men, or that her fidelity be retroactive? In Kupfer's production, Erik's reminder that she had previously sworn fidelity to him precipitates a psychological crisis that culminates in her suicide. At the end, Erik alone remains by Senta's body while the rest of the villagers slam their windows shut.
But concept is by no means this production's only strength. The staging--in which the walls of Senta's house literally fly away as her imagination takes flight--is brilliantly done. The Dutchman's ship is wonderfully macabre. All of the elements of Senta's social world are solidly 19th century Norwegian; unlike many non-traditional stagings, no attempt is made to change or generalize the place and time of the action.
Somehow, the music benefits from the edginess of Kupfer's interpretation. Musically, this isn't really the Wagner we've come to know through Tristan and the Ring--it's an earlier phase of German opera, like Weber on steroids. In fact, at the time Dutchman was written, Wagner was championing Bellini. The long shadow of Senta's dilemma gives the opera greater unity, and adds pathos and weight to the sweeter moments of the score.
Of course, it helps that the music is in remarkably capable hands. The orchestral direction and playing is magnificent. The cast is superb, almost a dream cast. Other reviewers have given high praise to Simon Estes and Matti Salminen, and I fully agree. Robert Schunk makes the most of his opportunity to portray Erik in a sympathetic light (for once, he's not the fly in the romantic ointment, but the one person who really loves Senta). Lizbeth Balslev sings superbly and superbly realizes Senta's "hypersensitive, hysterical" character, a character she successfully maintains onstage through all 135 minutes of this nonstop opera.
Search through the opera DVDs on Amazon and you'll find scores of productions that attempt to "re-envision" an opera. Many of them don't work. This one does, and brilliantly. Even if you generally don't like "non-traditional" productions, I encourage you to give this one a try.
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