Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
CML call number: CD/OPERA/Mozart
Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "It was written for a people's theater in which audiences expected to see shows with magic tricks, comic antics and fantasy. Mozart's fairy-tale opera has all that. Yet it is also a searching, mystical and musically sophisticated work. The matchless recording is Otto Klemperer's 1964 account with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which plumbs the score for its spiritual resonances. A dream cast is topped by the tenor Nicolai Gedda, who brings lyrical ardor to the role of Tamino, and the soprano Gundula Janowitz … as a pure-voiced and tender Pamina. The dazzling soprano Lucia Popp is simply the best Queen of the Night ever. Walter Berry makes a hardy yet poignant Papageno. The luxury casting extends to the Three Ladies: here, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig and Marga Höffgen" (4/14/06).
On a personal note, I've known this recording for a long time, but hadn't heard it lately. Recently I heard about someone who says that going to concerts "realigns her molecules." (I'm sure she means "in a good way.") That's how I feel about listening to this again!
Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "It was written for a people's theater in which audiences expected to see shows with magic tricks, comic antics and fantasy. Mozart's fairy-tale opera has all that. Yet it is also a searching, mystical and musically sophisticated work. The matchless recording is Otto Klemperer's 1964 account with the Philharmonia Orchestra, which plumbs the score for its spiritual resonances. A dream cast is topped by the tenor Nicolai Gedda, who brings lyrical ardor to the role of Tamino, and the soprano Gundula Janowitz … as a pure-voiced and tender Pamina. The dazzling soprano Lucia Popp is simply the best Queen of the Night ever. Walter Berry makes a hardy yet poignant Papageno. The luxury casting extends to the Three Ladies: here, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig and Marga Höffgen" (4/14/06).
On a personal note, I've known this recording for a long time, but hadn't heard it lately. Recently I heard about someone who says that going to concerts "realigns her molecules." (I'm sure she means "in a good way.") That's how I feel about listening to this again!
posted by casemusic at 2:07 PM
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