| Richard Wagner - Der fliegende Hollaender | 
| Director: Vaclav Kaslik
Actors: Donald Mcintyre, Catarina Ligendza, Bengt Rundgren, Hermann Winkler, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $18.36
You Save: $11.62 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 22491
Format: Ac-3, Classical, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc, Subtitled, Surround Sound
Languages: German (Original Language), Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 117 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 001099309
UPC: 044007344330
EAN: 0044007344330
ASIN: B0012EF7MO
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 1974
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Here?s a filmed Dutchman soaked in the sea from which the doomed figure of legend emerges into an atmospheric production enhanced by a powerful rendition of the title role and effective conducting by Wolfgang Sawallisch, an experienced Wagnerian. The story of a sinner condemned to sail the seas until Judgment Day, thirsting for a death that can only come through the redemption of a woman?s selfless love, is, in Wagner?s hands, a searing drama. The Overture is here illustrated with painted scenes that encapsulate the narrative. The opera itself offers traditional costuming and sets with a realism a stage production can?t capture. When the Dutchman emerges from his gnarled, threatening ship he tramples through the shallow water of the harbor and we hear the splashes made by his boots. His ship of doom has blood-red sails, but, less happily, his ghostly crew seems left over from a B horror flick. Vaclav Kaslik?s film direction captures the opera?s atmosphere well, with expressionist touches like the mists that shroud the vessel of doom, and the spider?s web of fishing nets that symbolize the way the characters are trapped in their situations. But too-busy camera work and a penchant for closeups more revealing of singers? tonsils than necessary sometimes distracts. Lip-synching, often a problem in filming operas to pre-recorded music, is reasonably well done here. The musical side of the production is successful, with a towering Dutchman in Donald McIntyre whose anguish is clear from his very first appearance and whose singing is exemplary, the voice firm, the interpretation nuanced. Daland, the greedy ship captain seduced by the Dutchman?s wealth to promise his daughter, Senta, in marriage is well done by Bengt Rundgren. Senta is a bit more problematic, as soprano Catarina Ligendza tends to be blank-faced as an actress, and with her thin, sometimes ugly high notes and scooping, some distance from the Senta of one?s dreams. Her frustrated suitor, Erik, is sung by Hermann Winkler, who brings intensity but also a burly tenor voice to the role. His aria recalling how he met and fell in love with Senta is bawled as if tenderness had no role in a love song. Harald Ek?s colorful tenor is ideal for the Steersman and Ruth Hesse is an effective Mary. The Bavarian Opera chorus and orchestra are fine and Sawallisch?s excellent conducting keeps the tension high and the narrative swift-moving. Some small cuts, common to stage productions of the period, don?t compromise a recommendation firmly based on the conducting and McIntyre?s first-rate Dutchman. --Dan Davis The Flying Dutchman is an all-regions disc in 4:3 ratio. Sound options include PCM Stereo and DTS 5.1 Surround. Sung in German, subtitles include English, French, Spanish, and Chinese.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Ignore the production and listen to the music ... November 10, 2008
I can't in good conscience give a 5 star review to an opera staged for film ... that said, the music is Wagner and wonderful. A wonderfully dark story highlighted by brilliant music.
 Perfect for Kids! October 18, 2008
I find this production too overly dramatic and too pushy with it's scenery, props, and dramatizations. It would be great for kids though! A good way to introduce a family and children to Opera!
I prefer the live production with Salminen and Behrens with Leif Segerstam conducting, which is still extrordinary!
 Dedicated To New York's Bravest And Finest, 9/11/08 September 11, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful DVD, one which has already been reviewed (and superbly so) by Mike Birman. This review is of another performance of "The Flying Dutchman", one which I remembered and thought about this morning while walking to work in lower Manhattan.
New York City Opera's fall season in 2001 was scheduled to open with a new production of "The Flying Dutchman", a rare excursion into Wagnerian repertory for that company. The premiere (as well as the entire opening week) was cancelled, due, of course, to the horrifying events of September 11th; that cancelled performance was rescheduled in late October as a 9/11 benefit. The opening ceremony that evening was very moving, with the entire cast (in full makeup) and backstage crew gathered on stage, underneath a large American flag which hung overhead. After a speech or two, it was announced that the flag hanging above the stage had covered the coffin of a member of the opera company's crew, who died on 9/11 while performing his duties as a member of the New York City Fire Department. The deceased firefighter's son, who also worked backstage at City Opera, was present onstage. Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house.
And then the opera began. For those not familiar with the "legend" of the Flying Dutchman, here is the Cliff Notes version: centuries ago, the Dutchman, a sea captain, while rounding southern Africa during a great storm, cried out that his ship would continue sailing, Satan be damned. Well, Satan heard him, and punished the Dutchman, his ship and crew, consigning them all to sail the seven seas for eternity, with no hope for salvation. In Wagner's version, an angel of mercy intervenes and tempers the sentence somewhat, giving the Dutchman a chance at salvation and redemption: every seven years, the Dutchman is permitted to bring his ship ashore. During his time on land, if the Dutchman can find a woman who will be faithful to him until death, his soul will be saved. Along comes Senta, who has been obsessed with the legend of the Flying Dutchman all her life; she meets and falls in love with him when he mysteriously appears, forgetting, for the moment, she is already engaged to someone else. The Dutchman becomes enraged upon learning of Senta's previous engagement, and sails off, disconsolate, for another seven years of torment. Senta, watching the ship sail away from a nearby clifftop, cries out to the Dutchman that she will remain faithful to him for all eternity, and leaps to her death into the sea. The Dutchman's ship sinks in the distance, and the curse has been broken: the Dutchman, due to Senta's devotion, sacrifice and selflessness, has finally found salvation.
While this very well mounted performance of an opera I have long loved played out before me, I began to think about how appropriate Wagner's redemptive storyline was for the occasion at hand: we were assembled that evening to honor and pay tribute to 400+ men and women, heroes all, who selflessly climbed the stairs of the Twin Towers that terrible day, all in an effort to protect and save their fellow New Yorkers. Before dying in the line of duty, these brave members of New York City's Fire Department and Police Department helped save the lives of thousands of New Yorkers on the morning of 9/11. It's very hard to believe that seven years have passed.
New Yorkers will never forget their Bravest and Finest, who selflessly gave their all to help us on 9/11/01, many of them paying the ultimate price in doing so. This is written in tribute to them.
May God bless them all -- they will never be forgotten.
Finally, at last August 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Finally, at last a video of The Flying Dutchman that satisfies! Perhaps this is a difficult opera to stage, and a film is needed. This one is excellent. The violence of stormy seas, the singing of the long-dead sailors in the last act, the hopelessness of Erik's situation, the tentativeness on both sides at the lovers' first encounter--all come through gloriously. It is a thrill to see Donald McIntyre in this. I will watch this video many times.
Mike was Right June 28, 2008
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
Once again Mike Birman has written such an ample and enticing review of this filmed opera that I feel no obligation to do more than refer you to him. In fact, I bought this DVD on Mike's recommendation, and I'm grateful. I'm hardly a steady booster of Richard Wagner; I've been known to declare that he was a major influence on opera but a minor composer. Let's also admit that I distrust his philosophical burden. The Flying Dutchman, however, is an honest evening's entertainment, an eerie ghost story with rollicking sailors and comely house-maidens. The prominence of two expressive roles for basses, with extended bass duets, makes the opera attractive to guys like me, who might otherwise choose to watch baseball.
The "legend" of the Flying Dutchman was brought to Wagner's attention by the greatest German poet of the 19th Century, the Jew Heinrich Heine. Wagner apparently used Heine's "Memoirs of Herr von Schnabelwopski" as his main source. The drama, for once, is compact and coherent. The whole production is a merciful 117 minutes of excitement.
On a personal note: Oddly, I didn't remember that I played the French horn part in the overture to this opera when I was 16 years old, at a summer honors camp for high school orchestra musicians. I switched from horn to bassoon the next year, but not because of Wagner. Honestly, I loved playing that overture and remembered it well enough to hum along with the horn. It's a pretty major composition for a minor composer.
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