PIERRE-LOUIS DIETSCH (1808-1865): Le Vaisseau Fantôme (Russell Braun [baritone], Sally Matthews [soprano], Bernard Richter [tenor]), RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883): Der fliegende Holländer (1841 version) (Evgeny Nikitin [bass-baritone], Ingela Brimberg [soprano], Eric Cutler [tenor]).

Description: When the young Wagner's hopes of having his "Dutchman" premiered in Paris were shattered in 1841, he sold the idea for the opera for 500 badly-needed francs and left town. Dietsch, unknown as a composer, benefited from having friends in the right places and got the commission to set a new libretto which added ideas from Walter Scott's "The Pirate", James Fennimore Cooper and, especially, Frederick Marryat's "The Phantom Ship". Donizetti was Dietsch's main model, steering away from the popular Meyerbeer's grab-bag of types of scenes and the work, premiered in November 1842, had eleven performances before vanishing forever. As for the Wagner, there have not been many recordings of the Paris version and none before now on period instruments. 4 CDs. German-English and French-English libretti. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble; Marc Minkowski.