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Die Zauberflöte
James Levine, Conductor
Francisco Araiza, Kathleen Battle, Manfred Heim, Luciana Serra, Kurt Moll, Barbara Kilduff, Andreas Schmidt
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Emanuel Schikaneder
One of my favorite operas on DVD. This Metropolitan Opera production strikes a great balance, taking itself seriously but remaining lighthearted and funny throughout.
Francisco Araiza (yes, again) is great as Tamino. His performance here is very similar to his performance under Sawallisch ten years earlier. He really captures the eager youthfulness of the part and his voice is simply beautiful. (He makes the greatest face for the line "Gerettet? Wofür gerettet?")
Her voice is absolutely breathtaking, but Kathleen Battle isn't exactly the greatest actress. In a piece like this it isn't too much of a problem, since the character is in some ways rather flat anyway. Plus I can forgive a lot in a Pamina with a voice this lovely.
Manfred Heim's Papageno completely steals this show. He manages to be positively hilarious, bringing out the character's natural simplicity but never reducing the role to a mere clown. He has great comic timing and endears himself immediately to the audience. He also has a great voice.
Luciana Serra is quite impressive as the Queen of the Night. She ably shows us the theatrical temperament of the Queen, playing the grieving parent in Act I but showing her vicious side in Act II. Her voice thins ever-so-slightly for the high notes but overall both of her arias are beautifully performed.
Kurt Moll was born to sing Sarastro, which he does here with all the wise benevolence a human being could possibly exude. Some of those looooooow notes are just amazing, and he gives us a Sarastro who is steady, kind, and utterly trustworthy. He and Serra are perfect character foils to each other, exactly as the roles demand.
Barbara Kilduff is great as Papagena. She interacts well with Heim and has a beautiful voice. Heinz Zednik does a nice turn as Monostatos. The role of the Speaker is well-performed, as are the Three Ladies. The Three Boys have beautiful voices and are surprisingly good actors for such young kids. They function as a unit but clearly have their own personalities. In particular the boy with the highest voice is amazing. I hope his voice retained some of that power when it deepened.
The staging is delightful, very bright and colorful as befits a fable or fairy tale of this nature. I loved the "wild beasts," particularly the porcupine. There was nothing sinister about this scene (unlike in the Sawallisch production) but a sense of mystery and of the power of the flute was still preserved, partly in the music and partly with the inclusion of a lion and one or two mythical animals among the beasts. The sets as a whole are wonderful.
If you like Die Zauberflöte at all you should definitely add this to your collection. The DVD has great picture and sound quality. It also has subtitles in the original German, as well as English, French, and Chinese, so that if you want you can follow the German and sing along... more DVD releases should contain original-language subtitles!
| Originally Reviewed: | 25-Sep-03 |
