Here’s an intimate charmer of a Magic Flute for your consideration, recorded live in 1992 at the Ludwigsburg Festival. At first, the late Axel Manthey’s simple set design and bright-colored props resembling cardboard toys struck me as tacky, and the costumes seemed more appropriate to Wonder Woman and Elmer Fudd than the Three Ladies and Papageno (Tamino’s white tights, of course, are appropriately prince-like!). As the opera progressed, I realized that these simple elements worked hand in hand with effective lighting cues and subtle stage direction that makes the small-ish stage seem bigger than it is. Add the excellent, catchy multi-lingual subtitles and you’ve got a DVD that will easily appeal to novices just getting started with opera.
Leading a small, alert orchestra, Wolfgang Gönnenwein sets tempos that allow the words to be heard and the singers to be comfortable. Not all the singing is first rate–least of all Andrea Frei’s wobbly Queen of the Night and the small-scaled, dry-toned Sarastro of Cornelius Hauptmann. On the other hand, Deon van der Walt is a heartfelt and eloquent Tamino, especially in his first act aria and later on in the finale. With soprano Ulrike Sonntag on hand, you’ll rarely hear Pamina’s Act 2 aria spun out to such moving effect. I love the economy of Thomas Mohr’s comic acting, which prevents Papageno from turning into a caricature–and his warm singing doesn’t hurt either. But who’s the Monastatos? Who are the Armed Men? Who is the Speaker? Who are the Three Boys? The credits don’t say.
