Wagner – Der Fliegende Holländer
La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday December 11 2005 Conductor: Kazushi Ono. Production: Guy Cassiers. Der Holländer: Egils Silins. Senta: Anja Kampe. Daland: Alfred Reiter. Erik: Torsten Kerl. Mary: Jacqueline van Quaille. Der Steuermann: Jörg Schneider. Orchestra and chorus of La Monnaie. Is performing operas without a break a new fashion? Fortunately last Friday’s Boris was the 1869 version and Wagner’s My young man’s a dustman has a running time of only 2 and a quarter hours… But even so, if you’re in the middle of a row, you can’t escape before the end. I wonder if tonight’s Viaggio a Reims will be done in a single stretch. Never two without three, as the French say… La Monnaie has a habit of finding new or lesser-known voices worth hearing and Sunday was no exception. The main “trio” was strong and it’s hardly their fault if the last Dutchmen I saw involved people like Deborah Voigt, Falk Struckmann or Albert Dohmen, putting odious comparisons in my mind and making a tough customer ...