RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS OF 
THE MAGIC FLUTE

There are a number of fine recordings of The Magic Flute available, especially if you are proficient in using the internet to order CDs.  It’s one of those works that brings out the best in everybody and you really can’t go wrong if you walk into your favorite CD emporium and just pick up a Magic Flute.  Below are my recommendations.  They’re certainly not definitive, but over the years there are a few recordings I’ve come to love dearly.

I think the finest of all is on EMI CD, conducted by Otto Klemperer with a dream cast from the 1960s.  The pace is expansive, and the recording is very clear.  It’s the one I go to when I just want the pleasure of listening.  Lucia Popp, Christa Ludwig, and Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, Nicolai Gedda and Walter Berry head up a VERY strong cast.

 On DG is a classic Magic Flute conducted by Ferenc Fricsay.  It was made back in 1954, and features a very swift and lean performance, quite in keeping with today’s notion of “scholarship” and the use of original instruments, yet has all the beauty and finesse of an old-fashioned interpretation of the opera.  In this recording you can hear a very young Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing Papageno (who with his size never was able to perform the role on stage), and the rest of the cast are the great Mozart singers who were in Vienna and the rest of the world’s great opera houses in the 1950s.

 Philips CD has a great bargain issue with Robert Tear, Margaret Price, and Peter Schreier leading a strong cast in a marvelous sounding performance directed by Sir Colin Davis.

 There’s a super-budget, but very fine Magic Flute on the Naxos label led by Michael Halasz, and no singers you probably ever heard of.  Don’t let that steer you away.  Here’s a $10 Magic Flute that holds its own with the “big boys”.

 Also on Naxos is the first-ever complete Magic Flute.  It is conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, and was made in Berlin in the late 1930s.  Featuring the great singers of the 30s and 40s, it’s a lesson in singing and conducting that goes back to an earlier age of Romantic interpretation.  The singing is fabulous, and the sound is listenable.  Because of the sonic limitations, I’d recommend this only to serious collectors of opera recordings.

 While nothing can beat attending a live performance that is well-done, productions of The Magic Flute don’t come around very often, and owning and listening to one of the many fine available recordings will enhance your FCO experience, and taking in some of The Magic Flute will always improve the quality of your life.

The best source of CDs in NE Florida is the Borders store in Jacksonville, not far up Southside Boulevard. from The Avenues Mall.  On the internet, check out Amazon.com, or CDNow.Com.  For the adventurous, go to http://broinc.com/, which is the Berkshire Record Outlet.  Once you know how to navigate their search engine, you will uncover endless buried treasure at delightfully ridiculous low prices.

© Captain Classics 2001

 Please send your comments about this article to captain@firstcoastopera.com .