This is a nice, if skimpy (46 minutes), set of highlights from the Magic Flute. Karl Böhm is, of course, a master, and even taken a chunk at a time we are able to grasp the meaning of each excerpt. Kudos go to Leopold Simoneau, who, despite his French-inflected German, is a gorgeous Tamino, and to Walter Berry’s sweet Papageno. Hilde Gueden’s Pamina is faceless except in her big aria (“Ach ich fühls”), Böhme has little to do, and Wilma Lipp’s Queen is perky, rather than exciting or interesting. Hardly an ideal representation.
