This sounds as bizarre as it looks on paper,
Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte without singers but
for three basset horns and percussion instead. Frankly it does
not work. After a while the sound is awfully monotonous and
monochrome, and some of the condensing of Mozart’s harmony and
orchestral textures just does not succeed, producing thin and
reedy results. The last adjective one could use to describe
this extraordinary idea is ‘magical’. The strange (generally
overfast) speeds and inclusion of recitative only make matters
worse. The three players apparently came to the conclusion that
‘with the use of our three basset-horns we were under the illusion
that all the singers, wind and string instruments were represented,
however an essential element was missing, the heart of the orchestra
in fact: the timpani, with their joyful, dramatic or ritual
impulses as required in the score.’ Regrettably it goes much
further than this with the whole concept utterly misguided -
it would take more than timpani to save the day.
For lovers of the basset-horn this may be worthwhile
but on the whole I’d stay well away from this version of The
Magic Flute and buy the original version; you’ll find it
at all good record shops filed under 'Opera'.
Christopher Fifield
Le Trio di
Bassetto: Jean-Claude Veilhan; Éric Lorho; Jean-louis Gauch
