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Bartók's gorgeous symbolist opera in this classic performance.
Impressive, but the diction sounds weird to me, and I didn't like the dramatic changes in recording perspective in various scenes. I'd like less "theater of the mind" and more natural recording perspective.
In Italian, Sutherland, Sills and Gruberova all recorded studio sets, but I prefer Caballe (live), particularly the one with Verrett as a thrilling Elisabeth.
I don't know Hungarian well enough to know if the diction was any good or not, though I wouldn't expect it to be as good as Hungarian forces. I do rather enjoy the changes in recording perspective, depending on what room they are entering, a sort of aural equivalent of a scene change.
A non-musical association also weighed against it in my mind. The fact that Berry and Ludwig were married at the time. The thought that a man and wife would perform this misogynistic tripe (beautiful music notwithstanding) struck me as awkward.
Yikes, this picture can be moved to the worst CD covers thread!
Klemperer's magisterial Der fliegende Holländer has achieved almost classic status, though it's a bit slow in parts for my tastes.
Arroyo and Raimondi don't eclipse memories of Callas and Christoff in a live recording from Florence in 1951 under Erich Kleiber.
In Arroyo's case, she was replacing the originally-cast Montserrat Caballé, as she also did in Muti's EMI Ballo in Maschera and Gardelli's EMI Forza del Destino.