Der Fliegende Holländer

Wagner Der Fliegende Holländer opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2013 by Jan Philipp Gloger at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre. Stars Samuel Youn (Der Holländer), Franz-Josef Selig (Daland), Ricarda Merbeth (Senta), Tomislav Mužek (Erik), Christa Mayer (Mary), and Benjamin Bruns (Der Steuermann). Christian Thielemann conducts the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra & Chorus (Chorus Master Eberhard Friedrich). Sets by Christof Hetzer; costumes by Karin Jud; lighting by Urs Schönebaum; video by Martin Eidenberger; dramaturgy by Sophie Becker. Directed for TV by Michael Beyer. Sung in German. Released 2014, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA

David Patrick Sterns, writing in the 2014 Awards Issue of Gramophone (page 116 ) has trouble with the directing and design but states that, "Musically, this performance is on such a high level that, if released in an audio-only format, it would be among the best live recordings out there."

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.