The Best New Classical Albums of 2025: Wagner's The Flying Dutchman from Oslo
Edward Gardner leads a cast which includes Lise Davidsen and Gerald Finley
The Best New Classical Albums of 2025
Album #19
Richard Wagner
Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), WWV 63
The Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Lise Davidsen, soprano
Gerald Finley, baritone-bass
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Label: Decca
Released: April 18, 2025
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As I mentioned recently in my post on the new Daniel Harding led recording of Puccini’s Tosca, complete opera recordings are relatively rare these days, and especially quality recordings that at least equal the best from decades gone by. Then when you add in the difficulty of producing a Wagner opera, and finding suitable voices for the roles, it is even more rare. So I am pleased to report that this new recording of Richard Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) is a very worthy addition to the catalog, and this coming from someone that doesn’t spend a lot of time with Wagner. The recording was released this year and features conductor Edward Gardner leading the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
Der fliegende Holländer is really the earliest big “hit” for Wagner, and it was premiered in 1843. This was to be the beginning of Wagner’s so-called “middle period” which also produced Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. This was before Wagner began using “leitmotifs” wholesale throughout his operas, but he was beginning to use them, and we hear three distinct leitmotifs in The Flying Dutchman (those being the music representing the storm, the music for the Dutchman, and the music for Senta). The opera, which is conventionally thought to be Wagner’s first mature work, has traditionally been the earliest of Wagner’s operas to be performed at the annual Bayreuth Festival in Germany.
Allegedly, the opera was inspired by Wagner's stormy and difficult sea crossing from Riga to London when he was down on his luck in 1839 and was trying to travel to Paris to have his opera Rienzi performed (an unsuccessful quest). This evoked thoughts about Heinrich Heine's retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski), which includes the fable of a sea captain who in some way blasphemed against God and as punishment is cursed to wander adrift at sea until he is able to redeemed by the love of a faithful woman (in Heine’s story it was a “Wandering Jew”, itself a racist term meant to depict an immortal Jew that wanders the earth endlessly seeking redemption because he taunted Jesus on his way to the crucifixion).
For Wagner, the sea captain is a wandering Dutchman and the theme of the opera is redemption through love. Although the original story may have been more of a comedy, Wagner took it seriously and himself wrote the libretto (as he did for all his operas) as more of an epic tale of the Dutchman searching for love in order to reverse the curse. Originally, Wagner wanted to break with tradition by presenting the entire opera in a single act, but eventually he would split it into three acts. The original setting was going to be Scotland, but Wagner changed it to Norway shortly before the premiere in Dresden in 1843.
The primary roles in the opera are as follows, with the performer singing the role on this recording:
The Dutchman (bass-baritone) Gerald Finley
Senta, Daland's daughter (soprano) Lise Davidsen
Daland, a sea captain (bass) Brindley Sherratt
Erik, a huntsman (Tenor) Stanislas De Barbeyrac
Mary, Senta's nurse (Alto) Anna Kissjudit
Daland's steersman (Tenor) Eirik Grøtvedt
Below is the opera’s condensed synopsis from The Metropolitan Opera:
Act I
The Norwegian coast, 19th century. A storm has driven Daland’s ship several miles from his home. Sending his crew off to rest, he leaves the watch in charge of a young steersman, who falls asleep as he sings about his girl. A ghostly schooner drops anchor next to Daland’s ship. Its captain steps ashore and, with increasing despair, reflects on his fate: once every seven years he may leave his ship to find a wife. If she is faithful, she will redeem him from his deathless wandering. If not, he is condemned to sail the ocean until Judgment Day. Daland discovers the phantom ship, and the stranger, who introduces himself as “a Dutchman,” tells him of his plight. The Dutchman offers gold and jewels for a night’s lodging, and when he learns that Daland has a daughter, asks for her hand in marriage. Happy to have found a rich son-in-law, Daland agrees and sets sail for home.
Act II
Daland’s daughter, Senta, is captivated by the portrait of a pale man in black—the Flying Dutchman. Her friends, working under the watchful eye of Mary, Senta’s nurse, tease Senta about her suitor, Erik, who is a hunter, not a sailor. When the superstitious Mary refuses to sing a ballad about the Dutchman, Senta sings it herself. The song reveals that the Dutchman’s curse was put on him for a blasphemous oath. To everyone’s horror, Senta suddenly declares that she will be the woman to save him. Erik enters with news of the sailors’ return. Alone with Senta, he reminds her of her father’s wish to find her a husband and asks her to plead his cause, but she remains distant. Realizing how much the Dutchman’s picture means to her, he tells her of a frightening dream in which he saw her embrace the Dutchman and sail away on his ship. Senta declares that this is what she must do, and Erik rushes off in despair. A moment later, the Dutchman enters. Senta stands transfixed. Daland follows and asks his daughter to welcome the stranger, whom he has brought to be her husband. Daland leaves, and the Dutchman, who is equally moved by the meeting, asks Senta if she will accept him. Unaware that she realizes who he is, he warns her of making a rash decision, but she vows to be faithful to him unto death. Daland is overjoyed to learn that his daughter has accepted the suitor.
Act III
At the harbor, the villagers celebrate the sailors’ return. Baffled by the strange silence aboard the Dutchman’s ship, they call out to the crew, inviting them to join the festivities. Suddenly the ghostly sailors appear, mocking their captain’s quest in hollow chanting. The villagers flee in terror. Quiet returns and Senta appears, followed by the distressed Erik. He pleads with her not to marry the Dutchman since she has already pledged her love to him. The Dutchman, who has overheard them, lets go of all hope and boards his ship. When Senta tries to stop him, he explains she will escape damnation—the fate of those who betray him—only because she has not yet proclaimed her vows before God. He reveals his identity and Senta ecstatically replies that she knows who he is. As his ship pulls away, she throws herself into the sea, faithful unto death.
There have been some exceptional recordings of Der fliegende Holländer, some of the most acclaimed are from Knappertsbusch, Solti, Karajan, Konwitschny, and Böhm among others. But this new recording brings the story to life again with freshness and dramatic urgency. The opening Overture portends good things to come, as it is played crisply and with real weight behind it. The entrance of the Chorus brings chills, the sound is full and immediate. Throughout the performance, Gardner inspires the musicians to not let the music drag, and that is a good thing. I can’t remember an opera sounding so good from the first downbeat.
For many the main draw of this recording is the two principal singers, Lise Davidsen as Senta and Gerald Finley as the Dutchman. First, let me say they both sing exceptionally well, and bring real characterizations to their roles. Davidsen in particular is sensational, one of the most astonishingly beautiful and powerful voices in the world today, she knows how to use it, and she doesn’t hold back on the recording. Finley for his part cannot match Davidsen’s power, but also doesn’t try, as he remains in character as the Dutchman who has been through hell, and so the loneliness, trauma, and vulnerability in his voice is well realized. Don’t get me wrong, Finley’s voice sounds wonderful, and is robust and satisfying. But Davidsen blows him out of the water a few times in the duets, which personally I don’t mind at all.
I love the Overture, and then working my way through some of the main numbers of the opera, some of the highlights of the recording for me are: