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Wolfgang Amadeus
MOZART (1756–1791) Die Zauberflöte, K 620 (1791)
Kurt Moll
(bass) – Sarastro; Peter Schreier (tenor) – Tamino;
Edda Moser (soprano) – Queen of the Night; Anneliese Rothenberger
(soprano) – Pamina; Walter Berry (baritone) – Papageno;
Olivera Miljakovic (soprano) – Papagena; Theo Adam (bass) – Speaker;
Leonore Kirschstein (soprano) – First Lady; Ilse Gramatzki
(mezzo) – Second Lady; Brigitte Fassbaender (contralto) – Third
Lady; Willi Brokmeier (tenor) – Monostatos; Wilfried Badorek
(tenor) – First Priest, First Armed Man; Günter Wewel (bass) – Second
Priest, Second Armed Man; Walter Gampert (treble) – First
Boy; Peter Hinterreiter (treble) – Second Boy; Andreas
Stein (alto) – Third Boy
Chorus and
Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera/Wolfgang Sawallisch
rec. Bürgerbräu, Munich, 8–16 August 1972 CLASSICS
FOR PLEASURE 3932662 [74:26 + 73:53]
Recording Die Zauberflöte with an all-German speaking
cast has its advantages, first and foremost in the authenticity
of the spoken dialogue but also in idiomatic singing. The
chances of this set being good were high, especially with
a chorus and orchestra from one of the foremost German opera
houses. Expectations are further raised by Wolfgang Sawallisch’s
involvement, being a conductor equally at home on the concert
platform and in the opera house. As can be seen from the
cast-list many of the singers are noted Mozarteans. Kurt
Moll, who in 1972 was pretty much at the beginning of his
international career, here sang his first recorded Sarastro
out of four. He appeared as the Second Armed Man on the 1971
DVD from Hamburg which I reviewed a while ago. Peter Schreier
had already recorded Tamino for Suitner in 1968 and went
on to sing the role for Colin Davis and Harnoncourt. Walter
Berry is here heard as Papageno in his third recording, the
first with Karl Böhm in 1955 and the second with Klemperer
a decade later. Edda Moser and Anneliese Rothenberger also
have Mozart recordings to their credit, even though the latter
is best known for her many operetta recordings. Theo Adam
was Sarastro on the aforementioned Suitner recording. Thus
there is plenty of Mozart expertise gathered here.
That Sawallisch is also a highly regarded pianist is perhaps
not so well-known. Taking time out from his conducting duties,
he
has accompanied such great Lieder singers as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
and Hermann Prey, in the recital hall as well as on recordings.
This is a talent that is of importance for an opera conductor.
There are opera maestros that set their own seal on the performances
and the singers have to struggle to make their points. Not
so when Sawallisch is at the helm. This doesn’t mean that
he is a reticent accompanist, but he is a good listener.
I would think that his first question to the record producer
after a take is the same as Gerald Moore’s: “Am I too loud?“.
I have always found him a reliable conductor in a wide repertoire
and this Zauberflöte is no exception. From the well-paced
and dynamic overture to the very end this is a highly idiomatic
performance with no quirky tempos, no exaggerated dynamics
but with plenty of life in the folksy pages and solemnity
in the serious sections. There is power and conviction in
the visceral dramatic arias, mainly The Queen of the Night’s
two arias. The chorus is excellent throughout and invest
the final pages with oratorio-like greatness.
Die Zauberflöte is one of the operas I
have returned to most often during the more than forty years
that have passed since I bought my first LP recording of
it, Karl Böhm’s legendary DG set. That had Fritz Wunderlich
as an almost unsurpassable Tamino, and every time I hear
it I find new things to marvel at and admire. What first
struck me this time was the contrapuntal writing for the
three ladies in the introduction. Every time it is so obvious
how Mozart has achieved a special musical ”language“ that
is so specific to this opera and differs markedly from his ”Italian” operas.
This is also apparent with the “odd” number here, the little
duet for Tamino and Papageno, Pamina, wo bist du?,
inserted before the quintet Wie? Wie? Wie? Ihr am diesen
Schreckensort? (No.12 in the Eulenburg score). Whether
this is authentic Mozart is, I believe, open to debate, but
on the internet I found information from someone who had
contacted Wolfgang Sawallisch on this issue, saying: “Apparently
the source of the duet is an entry in the appendix to the
complete Köchel catalog. Mr. Sawallisch said that since it
is so difficult to do something new with such an often-recorded
piece such as Die Zauberflöte, he decided to include the
duet in his interpretation. And he knows of no other performance.” (from
a letter by the conductor to the author of the Belfry
blog).
It is of course interesting to have some unknown Mozart but
honestly it isn’t a very good piece of music and if it actually
was written for the opera it was a wise decision to cross
it out. Peter Schreier and Walter Berry do what they can
to save it.
There is a fair amount of spoken dialogue included though by
no means everything - thank God! On every recording and every
live
performance I have heard, the dialogue has been trimmed in
one way or other. The most “complete” is I believe Furtwängler’s
live recording from Salzburg. Some recordings, Fricsay on
DG for example, have a separate cast of actors which means
that there is a very obvious discrepancy between the singing
and the speaking voices. Harnoncourt has a narrator, which
distances the dialogue even further, while Klemperer is the
most radical of all; he excludes all the dialogue.
The Sawallisch set retains enough of it to make the proceedings
understandable and it is well executed with a special plus
for Walter Berry’s lively Papageno and Olivera Miljakovic’s
whining crone.
The singing is consistently stylish and well characterized
but not all the voices are ideally ingratiating. Head and
shoulders
above the rest, in more than one sense, is Kurt Moll’s warm
and noble Sarastro. Few basses have had more beautiful voices
and few have been able to produce such superb legato singing.
It is even more remarkable that he went on singing with little
noticeable deterioration of his vocal resources until 2006
when he gave his farewell performance as the Night-watchman
in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg during the Munich
Summer Festival. Walter Berry’s Papageno is also as well
sung as one has a right to expect but by 1972 his voice had
darkened and he sounds slightly elderly, compared to his
first recorded Vogelfänger in 1955. Edda Moser’s highly dramatic
Queen of the Night is quite outstanding and I believe that
this is what Schikaneder and Mozart had in mind. Such an
evil character must be formidable to make her mark, whereas
a traditional lyric canary is only pretty and harmless. Ms
Moser’s high-charged force doesn’t exclude pinpoint top-notes
and fluent coloratura. Quite an achievement!
Peter Schreier was one of the great Mozart tenors for many
years. He is as expressive and enunciates as well as any
competitor
but his actual sounds are less attractive. He sings with
considerable strain and plangent tone robs his reading of
true nobility. The two best Tamino’s on records are certainly
Leopold Simoneau (Böhm 1955) and Fritz Wunderlich (Böhm 1965).
Anneliese Rothenberger is also an older-than-average Pamina,
sometimes slightly squally but she gives a fine inward reading
of her aria in act 2. Among the more marginal singers Theo
Adam is an excellently articulate Speaker but his singing
is rather shaky, while Olivera Miljakovic is a pretty Papagena
when she eventually comes out in her true colours.
The ladies are not the best matched trio on record but more
than acceptable and it is good to hear the characteristic
deep voice of Brigitte
Fassbaender as the Third Lady. The three boys, soloists of
the Tölz Boys’ Choir, are on the other hand, truly superb.
There is no libretto but a quite good cued synopsis. The
early 1970s recording is excellent. At the price this is
a splendid buy,
even though it doesn’t sweep the board. There are a number
of other excellent versions. Fricsay on DG is in mono and
has this extra cast of actors for the dialogue. It is expertly
conducted and there is no weak link among the singers. Rita
Streich is an outstanding, but of course lyrical, Queen of
the Night and Fischer-Dieskau a superb Papageno. Böhm on
Decca has one of the best Taminos, Berry’s first Papageno,
Hilde Güden’s lovely Pamina and Wilma Lipp a splendid Queen
of the Night. Sadly he has a less than enticing Sarastro.
Böhm’s stereo remake for DG is possibly the best bet of all:
Wunderlich, Fischer-Dieskau, Franz Crass a noble Sarastro
and Hans Hotter a deeply moving Speaker. Less attractive
are the two American sopranos as Pamina and the Queen of
the Night but still better than average. Finally there’s
Colin Davis on Philips with Schreier and Moll and Margaret
Price as Pamina. Any of these versions should adorn anyone’s
collection and Sawallisch belongs in this illustrious company.
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