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Editorial Reviews

If you've got to hear a Herbert von Karajan recording of Mozart's forever-young "Die Zauberflöte," let it be this one from November 1950. For one thing, it has a fine cast. Anton Dermota is a heroic yet affecting Tamina. Irmgard Seefried is an affecting yet heroic Pamina. Erich Kunz is a hilarious yet touching Papageno. Emmy Loose is a touching yet hilarious Papagena. Wilma Lipp may have a bit too wide a vibrato and a bit too much of an edge at the top of her range, but her Queen of the Night is still terrifying. George London may be a bit too inexperienced to fully inhabit the character, but his Speaker is still a tremendously virile performance. For another thing, Karajan is, for those who only know his career from the late '50s on, an amazingly self-effacing conductor. While one can always tell that it's Karajan from the elegant phrasing and the polished playing of the Vienna Philharmonic, it's neither the self-exalted wunder Karajan of the war years with his rigid ensemble and driven tempos nor the self-deified "Music Director of Europe" Karajan of the later years with his extravagant tonal beauty and lavish orchestral colors, but rather the striving Karajan of the postwar years who allowed his cast to perform roles they'd all known for years with his complete support but without his entire ego. The result is a playfully dramatic and often quite beautiful "Zauberflöte" that lets the work be its own silly, sweet, sublime self. Walter Legge's recording still sounds clear and rich for the orchestra and at times incredibly lifelike for the singers. Listeners should, however, be warned that this is by no means a complete "Zauberflöte" -- the spoken dialogue is gone, along with some of the music. James Leonard, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

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