Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Royal Opera House, 2003)

Cast: Dorothea Röschmann (Pamina), Diana Damrau (Queen of the Night), Will Hartmann (Tamino), Franz-Josef Selig (Sarastro), Simon Keenlyside (Papageno), Ailish Tynan (Papagena), Thomas Allen (Speaker), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Colin Davis (conductor) David McVicar (director)

Recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 27 January 2003

Issued on DVD in 2003 by BBC/ Opus Arte (OA886D, NTSC/ all regions, with menus in English and subtitles in English and Spanish, and OA885D, PAL/Region 2, with subtitles in English, French and Spanish)

Technical Details:
Picture format: 16:9
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0/Dolby Digital 5.1

Running time: 165 minutes (plus 20 minutes of supplementary material including an interview with Colin Davis)

Sung in German
This production by the Scottish director David McVicar is very beautiful to look at and traditional in style. Costumes are 18th century and the humanity and lightness of this last opera by Mozart come over wonderfully. No silly gimmicks are used and the set is elegantly done with black marble columns. Monostatos is portrayed not as black but as an evil courtier with big powdered wig and enormous belly; the text and subtitles are slightly altered to accomodate the staging.

The singing ranged from Hartmann's hard-pressed Tamino and Selig's bland Sarastro to the excellent work of Diana Damrau, Dorothea Röschmann and Simon Keenlyside. Damrau's voice is both beautiful and precise, with every staccato high D and F perfectly on pitch. Röschmann is charming as Pamina, with a naturalness reminiscent of Irmgard Seefried. Her Pamina is not as angelic as that of Tiana Lemnitz and her pianos are not as finely floated as they might be in 'Der böse Mohr verlangte Liebe' and 'Sie ist es'. Keenlyside's Papageno is delightful while his voice is gorgeous throughout the range. Each of these three provides superb diction and complete involvement with the character. Thomas Allen was not in the best voice and his diction was imprecise - a poor situation for 'the speaker'. Aylish Tynan's Papagena was charming without overacting.

Sir Colin Davis conducted in an elegant way with very measured tempi. Nothing was exagerated and he was always with his singers. His approach was direct and simple yet totally correct. Quality of both picture and sound is excellent.

I highly recommend this DVD and enjoyed it tremendously even though the Tamino was under par. The other singers more than made up for that as did the wonderful production.
 
Marco Schmid, 30 September 2003
mrcshmd13@aol.com
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.