Die Zauberflöte (3 CD) (utgåvan 1985)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Die Zauberflöte:
Opera in two acts (arias and ensembles only)

Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder

Sarastro – Ludwig Weber
Königin der Nacht – Wilma Lipp
Pamina – Irmgard Seefried
Tamino – Anton Dermota
Papageno – Erich Kunz
Papagena – Emmy Loose
Monostatos – Peter Klein
Speaker – George London
Three ladies – Sena Jurinac, Friedl Riegler & Else Schürchoff
Three boys – Hermine Steinmassl, Eleonore Dörpinghans & Annelies Stükl
Armoured men – Ljubomir Pantscheff & Erich Majkut
Priests – Erich Majkut & Harald Pröglhöff

Singverein des Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan

Recorded: 2, 3, 6-9, 13-16, 20 & 21.XI.1950, Brahmssaal, Vienna.

EMI Classics, 2005. 2CD. 62.13+66.50. Liner notes by Richard Osborne. Digital remastering, 1999. No libretto.

CD 1
[1] Overture
Act 1
[2] No. 1, Introduction: Zu Hilfe! Zu Hilfe! (Tamino, Three ladies)
[3] No. 2, Aria: Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja (Papageno)
[4] No. 3, Aria: Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Tamino)
[5] No. 4, Recitative and Aria: O zitt’re nicht, mein lieber Sohn (Queen of the Night)
[6] No. 5, Quintet: Hm! hm! hm! hm! (Papageno, Tamino, Three ladies)
[7] No. 6, Trio: Du feines Täubchen, nur herein (Monostatos, Pamina, Papageno)
[8] No. 7, Duet: Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen (Pamina, Papageno)
[9] No. 8, Finale: Zum Ziele führt dich diese Bahn (Boys, Tamino, Speaker, Pamina, Monostatos, Sarastro)

CD 2
Act 2
[1] No. 9, March of the Priests
[2] No. 10, Aria with Chorus: O, Isis und Osiris (Sarastro)
[3] No. 11, Duet: Bewahret euch vor Weibertücken (Two priests)
[4] No. 12, Quintet: Wie? wie? wie? ihr an diesem Schreckensort? (Three ladies, Papageno, Tamino)
[5] No. 13, Aria: Alles fühlt der Liebe Freuden (Monostatos)
[6] No. 14, Aria: Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (Queen of the Night)
[7] No. 15, Aria: In diesen heil’gen Hallen (Sarastro)
[8] No. 16, Trio: Seid uns zum zweiten Mal willkommen (Three boys)
[9] No. 17, Aria: Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden! (Pamina)
[10] No. 18, Chorus of Priests: O Isis und Osiris, welche Wonne!
[11] No. 19, Trio: Soll ich dich, Teurer, nicht mehr seh’n? (Pamina, Sarastro, Tamino)
[12] No. 20, Aria: Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen (Papageno)
[13]-[20] No. 21, Finale: Bald prangt, den Morgen zu verkünden (Boys, Pamina, Armoured Men, Tamino, Papageno, Papagena, Monostatos, Sarastro)

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Much like his Figaro recorded just a few months earlier, Karajan’s first Flute is confined to arias and ensembles. The spoken dialogues are completely omitted, and I don’t miss them at all. Of course the story makes no sense without them. By all means read as much of them as you can, for instance in the ENO guide, but you don’t have to waste your time listening to them. The cast on this recording, again like Figaro, consists of outstanding artists who manage to sing every word distinctly without ruining the music. This is a rare achievement. Opera is nothing if not a perpetual war between words and music. To reconcile them to each other is the greatest art and seldom achieved. Here it is. The sound quality and Karajan’s conducting is where this recording differs from, and falls short of, the aforementioned Figaro. The mono is very clean and well-balanced in the relatively quiet moments, but loss of detail and grating harshness creep in almost every time an ensemble or a single voice is raised above mezzo-forte. I guess no remastereing can fix that. Karajan’s conducting is finely paced and phrased, but it lacks the verve and liveliness of his almost 30-years-younger recording for DG. Richard Osborne’s liner notes are characteristically witty and full of fascinating details about composer, librettist and conductor. Uncharacteristically, however, he mentions nothing whatsoever about the cast. He has also provided a track-by-track synopsis, including summaries of the more important among the spoken dialogues, but all this is by definition useless. Skip it and follow the libretto instead. If you already know it pretty well, surrender yourself to the music. It doesn’t get much better than that. ( )

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Die Zauberflöte:
Oper in zwei Aufzügen

Sarastro – José van Dam
Königin der Nacht – Karin Ott
Pamina – Edith Mathis
Tamino – Francisco Araiza
Papageno – Gottfried Hornik
Papagena – Janet Perry
Monostatos – Heinz Kruse
Sprecher – Claudio Nicolai
First lady – Anna Tomowa-Sintow
Second lady – Agnes Baltsa
Third lady – Hanna Schwarz
First boy – Wolfgang Bünten*
Second boy – Christian Schulz*
Third boy – Tobias Pfülb*
First armoured man – Volker Horn
Second Armoured man – Victor von Halem
First priest – Heiner Hopfner
Second priest – Leopold Valenta

Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan

*Solisten des Tölzer Knabenchors

[Recorded: 1/1980, Philharmonie, Berlin.]

Deutsche Grammophon, n.d. 3CD. [TT c. 131 min.] In slipcase. Liner notes by Stanley Sadie. Libretto (Ger+Eng+Fr+It).

CD 1: Act I (Nos. 1-8)
CD 2: Act I (Nos. 9-12) – Act II (Nos. 9-18)
CD 3: Act II (Nos. 19-21)

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Whatever you wish to take the libretto for, a silly fairy tale for retarded children or a masterpiece of Masonic Symbolism, there is no question about the greatness of the music. It is rather unfortunate that the most famous numbers are Papageno’s ditties (“Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja”, “Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen”), his duet with Pamina (“Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen”) and the Queen of the Night’s coloratura fireworks (“Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen”). Mind you, these are charming pieces, not negligible in terms of characterisation either, but Pamina’s heartbroken aria (“Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden!”), Tamino’s falling in love with her portrait (“Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön”), Sarastro’s noble utterances (“In diesen heil’gen Hallen”, “O Isis und Osiris”) and, above all, the grand finales of both acts are incomparably greater achievements. Indeed, the finales are quite on par musically, if not dramatically, with those of Figaro (Acts II and IV) and Don Giovanni (both acts) – which have seldom been equalled and never surpassed in post-Mozartian times.

This recording, among the first digital ones Karajan ever made, is not often mentioned among the top choices. I beg to differ. It is true that you may find some of the roles a little better sung on other recordings. But I bet it would be very hard to find a better ensemble. Even minor roles like the Three ladies, the Three boys, Papagena and Monostatos are in the mouths and minds of accomplished singer-actors. Not that there is anything wrong with the five principals. One miscast among them could easily spoil the whole thing. Not so here. The quintet is impeccable. There are no miscasts and no standouts, no words chewed beyond recognition and no music distorted for the sake of “dramatic effect”.

As I said in my review of the highlights from this recording, the only problem is the sound. It has little presence and even less of a dynamic range. It is clean enough, however, and the balance between singers and orchestra is fine. There is no remastered edition, so far as I know, and, frankly, I don’t think it would be a great improvement.

This old and handsome set, complete with an illustrated booklet and a slipcase, curiously lacks proper recording details and even total timings. But the libretto is complete, including the utterly tedious spoken dialogues (read them at least, if not listen to them), and many of the illustrations are fascinating (e.g. Papageno’s costume). Stanley Sadie provides an extensive and characteristically erudite introduction to the history of composition and the main ideas, even if I disagree with his turning Tamino and Pamina into symbols of idealized man- and womanhood. He is right, however, in advising a careful perusal of the libretto. The story is absurd and dull, but there is more depth to the characters than generally recognised. This is obvious, indeed, to anybody who listens to the music without any knowledge of the text. But since this is an absurd thing to do, don’t forget to follow the libretto. ( )

Lucia Popp sings the absolute best Queen of the Night ever in this recording. ( )