Thomas Stewart's Dutchman was recorded for DG under Karl Bohm with Gwyneth Jones' Senta about five or six years after this performance. That is a fine recording, but if you love Stewart and/or this opera, you must hear this. The American bass-baritone is in his best voice and his characterization is filled with many shades of anger, regret, and despair. Silja, singing the Ballad up a tone, has a few intonation issues here and there yet they don't keep her from delivering an incredibly intense, haunting performance. She is even better than she was a a few years earlier when Philips recorded her performance with Franz Crass as the Dutchman. Greindl is a deliciously sleazy Daland with his evil chuckle. Olvis, in his only Bayreuth season, is very fine as Erik, bringing a sense of smothering doom with him. It's clear why Senta wants to be rid of him. Chookasian, in her only Bayreuth season, actually makes something of Mary with her rich contralto. Winkler makes a sturdy Steersman with strong top B-flats. The chorus is magnificent both vocally and dramatically. Suitner is just as propulsive as Sawallisch and perhaps even more intense.The sound is from a very good mono broadcast tape. Even if you have other Bayreuth Dutchmen, make room for this one!

Thomas Stewart is the best performer of the Dutchman!

Absolutely riveting and Stewart’s most thrilling recorded outing in this role. He’s in firm, vibrant voice from top to bottom, tears into the climaxes with startling ferocity, and creates a genuinely innovative characterization: not weary and all-but-hopeless, but fiercely angry and defiant, a latter-day Prometheus. I’ve never heard a more gripping take on the role.As for the supporting cast, Olvis, in his one-and-only Bayreuth season, is an upbeat surprise: a scrappy, high-energy Erik in fresh, free voice. Chookasian is your ultimate contralto Mary, and Greindl is an inexplicable marvel — gnarled and battle-scarred but somehow throughly entertaining in Daland’s operetta turn in Act 2.Which leaves Silja’s Senta: she’s white-toned and shrill during the ballade but increasingly compelling thereafter. As for Suitner and the 1965 Bayreuth band, they plunge in with a vengeance and I was too caught up to argue about a single tempo. The monaural sound is clear and decent.In sum: a powerhouse Dutchman from Stewart and a cracking good all-around performance.