More music stuff

Last night I watched the other opera video I received for Christmas, Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander. It's a production from the 1985 Bayreuth festival, and was artistic supervision is by by Wolfgang Wagner, a direct descendant. The singing is quite good. I wish there was an IMDB equivalent for opera so that I could see what else Simon Estes has sung. He is the Dutchman, and does a wonderful job. I have a few minor complaints about some of the production decisions: Senta comes across as loony rather than driven or just obsessed, and the costume design for the feast scene at the beginning of the third act was kind of weird (all-white clothing and masks). But the musical performance is solid. Watching the opera made me much more aware of the way Wagner works with motifs than just listening does. He relates the various motifs to each other in subtle and ingenious ways that are extremely effective.
Tomorrow evening is the recording session for my trio, The Floating Land. We're using a small studio in Brookline. I hope it goes well. I do feel pretty confident, though. Bryan and Susie are really good players, and I've been practicing religiously.