Mozart : Die Zauberflote - Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Arnold Schoenberg Chor

Mozart : Die Zauberflote

Claudio Abbado, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Arnold Schoenberg Chor

Sarastro : Rene Pape

Konigin der nacht: Erika Miklosa

Pamina : Dorothea Roschmann

Tamino : Christoph Strehl

Papageno : Hanno Muller-Brachmann

Papagena : Julia Kleiter

Sprecher : Georg Zeppenfeld

Monostatos : Kurt Azesberger

Gramophone Award 2006 / Best of category

BBC : Radio 3 : Critics Disc of the Year 2006

BBC Music magazine : Disc of the month June 2006

Gramophone magazine : Editor's Choice

Peguine Guide : Rosette

Gramophone 6/2006, Alan Blyth

Abbado's first shot at the Flute proves to be a strong contender

Had this new set been to hand when I discussed all versions of Die Zauberflote in January, it would have been high on my list of recommendations. This is certainly the most desirable version using modern instruments to appear since Solti's second recording in 1990. That said, its characteristics are rather nearer my period-performance choice, Christie's 1995 set.

Abbado undertook the opera for the first time in performances in Italy last year, directed by his son (the production will come to this year's Edinburgh Festival). On this occasion, at Modena in September, he conducts a direct, keenly articulated, inspiriting account of the score, obviously aware of what has been achieved in recent times by the authenticists, yet when he reaches the work at its most Masonic - the Act 2 trio and the scene with the Armed Men, Tamino and Pamina - Abbado, directing his beloved Mahler Chamber Orchestra, gives the music its true and wondrous import. The playing throughout is alert and scrupulously articulated.

Casts varied between performances; here Abbado assembled one predominantly chosen from a youngish generation of German-speaking singers, each of whom approaches his or her role with fresh sound and interprets it in impeccably Mozartian style. The Tamino and Pamina are well nigh faultless. Tamino has been taken by many outstanding tenors on disc but Christoph Strehl, a name new to me but already in great demand in Mozart on the Continent, sings with a Wunderlich-like strength and beauty, and rather more light and shade than his famous predecessor brought to the role. His is a wonderfully virile, vital reading that gives pleasure to the ear, as much in ensemble as in aria. He is partnered by Dorothea Rφschmann, who has already appeared as Pamina at Covent Garden, and in many other houses. Her full-throated, positive singing, finely shaped, cleanly articulated, is a true match for Strehl?s.

Hanno Muller-Brachmann is a properly lively and amusing Papageno, and delivers the role in a richer bass-baritone than many interpreters provide. He doesn't attempt a Viennese accent in the dialogue (a fairly full version), but brings plenty of simple humour to the part. The high and low roles are well catered for. The Hungarian coloratura Erika Miklosa has been making a speciality of Queen of Night over the past few years and shows just why in a technically secure and fiery account of her two arias. Renι Pape sings Sarastro: now at the peak of his career, he conveys all the role?s gravity and dignity in a gloriously sung performance. Kurt Azesberger is a suitably nasty Monostatos.

Abbado allows a few neatly executed decorations. The extensive dialogue, spoken in a manner suitable for the theatre, sometimes sounds over-emphatic in the home, with the Papagena as an old woman the worst culprit. The recording is reasonably well balanced. As a whole I felt the performance conveyed a welcome immediacy and spontaneity. If you want studio perfection, Solti may be preferable, but I very much warmed to the daring of Abbado's way with the score.

musicomh.com : Dominic McHugh

Yes, believe all the hype: Claudio Abbado's new recording of The Magic Flute is the best thing on record to come out of the Mozart year so far.

In bringing together a cast of largely young singers and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Abbado seems to have found the mysterious aura that this opera needs - through youth. For too long, the opera has been connected with Mozart's death, and in consequence it's often bogged down by over-reverential tempi and a mood of darkness.

Instead, Abbado brings out the contrast of light and dark, in terms of key and orchestration. The polar opposites of Tamino and Pamina (the aristocratic, opera seria, serious characters) and Papageno and Papagena (the servant, opera buffa, comic characters) have rarely been so well pronounced as here. Furthermore, the conflict of the Queen of the Night and Sarastro seems far more dangerous than is usually the case, partly because the singers are so fabulous.

Erika Miklosa shows versatility as the queen in a way that is unusual: she brings out a lyric side to 'O zittre nicht' without losing the coloratura, and 'Der Holle rache' is fiery as well as a showcase for the voice. Abbado keeps the pace moving in Sarastro's 'O Isis and Osiris', responding to the beauties of Rene Pape's voice; it's a relief to be spared the usual decrepit basses that most opera houses employ for the role. That's not to say that he lacks gravitas – on the contrary, this is an authoritative performance that nevertheless finds new nuances in this familiar music.

Talking of nuance, Abbado has freshened up the score by consulting the manuscript, with an important change to the introduction of the duet for Papageno and Pamina, 'Bei Mannern'; gone is the distinctive clarinet part that is normally associated with Mozart's late style. Textual discrepancies aside, the duet gets a superb performance from Dorothea Roschmann as Pamina and Hanno Muller-Brachmann as the bird-catcher, Papageno.

Roschmann is rapidly becoming the soprano of choice in the lead Mozart roles, and this record cements her reputation. A creamy tone and easy phrasing makes 'Ach, ich fuhl's' a highlight of the set. Muller-Brachmann is very far from being the usual bumbling jester as Papageno. Instead, an element of the fantastical about the character is brought out, which makes him far more interesting and even a little dangerous, and his arias are sung with elegance.

Christoph Stehl is a lyrical Tamino, and 'Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton' is phrased with a sense of the magic of the titular flute. Julia Kleitler makes the most of Papagena's small part, and Kurt Azesberger brings more of the wicked than the comic to the part of Monostatos. The three ladies and the three boys also make excellent contributions, demonstrating a tight ensemble with a common purpose.

Neither too heavy nor too light, Abbado's reading is atmospheric and dramatic. The orchestra is exceptionally talented, with lucid string playing, pert brass and sublime winds.

Currently available at a special, low price, this is a recording to enjoy time and again. Lucky are the few who have tickets to the staged performances that Abbado is bringing to the Edinburgh Festival in the summer!

“Claudio Abbado’s Magic Flute sounds like a breath of fresh air… Since his own near-death experience during a grave illness, every piece he conducts has taken on a sense of existential urgency, including the Flute. One has seldom heard the work performed with such a light touch and effortless fluency, with such feeling for dramatic refinement and with the characters so musically alive.” (Die Zeit, May 2005)

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