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Mozart Year: Which Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) and Don Giovanni recordings are best?

post #1 of 44
1/28/06 at 5:33am
Thread Starter 
Hi everyone,

as you most likely all know, we celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday in 2006. I am particularly interested in adding recording of the Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) and Don Giovanni to my collection. Browsing Amazon, recordings conducted by Karajan (1950), Böhm and Harnoncourt come up. I've always liked the latter although some purists may disagree with his way of work.

Any recommendations between these three and others?

Cheers! M.
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post #2 of 44
1/28/06 at 5:41am
Rene Jacob has not yet made recordings of die Zauberfloete and Don Giovanni yet (I think they will be pretty good to say the least when they finally get made), but for recordings using period instruments, I like Norrington and Gardiner for Don Giovanni best, and William Christie and Arnold Ostman for the Magic Flute.
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post #3 of 44
1/28/06 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 
I have got "Le Nozze di Figaro" from Jacob and I have to say it is very good. I wish I had him as an option. Thanks for the other suggestions, too! :-)
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post #4 of 44
1/28/06 at 8:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masolino
and William Christie and Arnold Ostman for the Magic Flute.
I second these two votes for best Zauberflote. Both feel very airy and lively and capture that lovely sense of enigma that's both kind of silly yet deadly serious.

I'll also put out a vote for a highlights CD, which I normally wouldn't do - but I've not been able to find the complete box set. Solti has a recording out for London with Stuart Burrows as Tamino. Deutekom is a kick azz Queen of the Night here and Hermann Prey gives a noble Papageno, but I think Burrows just does a wonderful job and makes my all time underrated Tamino list.

Also, this recording has an absolutely magic moment when the Hmmm Hmmmm Hmmm quartet is ending and the three boys are introduced - Solti plays that moment so the hairs on my arm stand up, something mysterious and magical is happening here, just like I imagine Mozart intended it!

Dang, now you've reminded me to start up my search for the complete set again!
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post #5 of 44
1/28/06 at 9:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicious Tyrant
I second these two votes for best Zauberflote. Both feel very airy and lively and capture that lovely sense of enigma that's both kind of silly yet deadly serious.

I'll also put out a vote for a highlights CD, which I normally wouldn't do - but I've not been able to find the complete box set. Solti has a recording out for London with Stuart Burrows as Tamino. Deutekom is a kick azz Queen of the Night here and Hermann Prey gives a noble Papageno, but I think Burrows just does a wonderful job and makes my all time underrated Tamino list.

Also, this recording has an absolutely magic moment when the Hmmm Hmmmm Hmmm quartet is ending and the three boys are introduced - Solti plays that moment so the hairs on my arm stand up, something mysterious and magical is happening here, just like I imagine Mozart intended it!

Dang, now you've reminded me to start up my search for the complete set again!
That would be Solti's first complete recording....it has been available here
and was recently on sale at a discounted price. So, yes I am sure "Pamina
lebet noch"; Solti I is still available in the original format (i.e. full-priced
complete recording). Good luck with your search for the ultimate, Tamino!
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post #6 of 44
1/28/06 at 12:39pm
My vote for the best Die Zauberflöte is the Philips recording under Colin Davis. It is out on a budget two-disc set, but the new incarnation lacks the dialogue. If that matters. However, I think that the Complete Mozart Edition set has the dialogue. Peter Schreier's Tamino is worth the price of admission. Margaret Price turns in a fair Pamina. Kurt Moll is a very good Sarastro, as well.

I suppose, though, that either Von Karajan or Klemperer on EMI is a safe bet, too.
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post #7 of 44
1/28/06 at 1:03pm
My two favorite magic flutes are the Bohm and Klemperer.





For Don Giovanni, the classic recording is the Giulini. I also like Karajan's live performance from Salzburg, 1970.



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post #8 of 44
1/28/06 at 2:03pm
I have the Klemperer EMI recording and recently found the Mackerras at my used CD store. I haven't heard it yet, but it was recommended.

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post #9 of 44
1/28/06 at 2:41pm
Thread Starter 
Hey guys that's a nice response so far. Do you guys plan on attending concerts or do anything special in commemoration of Mozart this year?
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post #10 of 44
1/28/06 at 8:32pm
I like the Ostman Don Giovanni as well as his Zauberflöte. Basically this was a highly successful series of the Da Ponte operas that still sounds good today. I also have the Christie Zauberflöte which is excellent, probably better sung but not as fresh sounding as the Ostman. If the Mackerras version is as good as his complete Mozart symphonies (the overall best set currently available on period or modern instruments) then it would be very interesting indeed to hear. I have only heard Cosi Fan Tutti in the Gardiner series but I know they got rave reviews from the British Press at the very least, so he is probably worth checking out as well.

The Karajans, Bohms et al I wouldn't touch these days - I am sure they are interesting as historical documents but they really belong to another age of interpretation.
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post #11 of 44
1/29/06 at 2:51pm
[double post]
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post #12 of 44
1/29/06 at 2:52pm
as we discussed in another thread, it is not easy to find the right Don Giovanni. The music is so complex and the story so multi-faceted that nobody seems to be able to get it right. My favourite Don is still the 200th anniversary Mitropoulos/Salzburg with Siepi/DellaCasa. It is wonderfully sung and sparklingly erotic throughout, leaving the celebrated (and IMHO boring) Giulini set in the dust. The only (important) flaw of Mitropoulos is that it falls rather flat in the final Commendatore scene.

For a great finale and an excellent modern (not period) performance check the Abbado/Ferrara set

which you can also get as a decent-quality DVD from houseofopera.com.
The male part of the cast reads like the who-is-who of contemporary Mozart baritones: Keenlyside as Don, Terfel as Leporello and D'Arcangelo as Masetto. With Matti Salminen as Commendatore, the final dinner scene is almost Wagnerian and shows (especially on DVD) what a great actor Keenlyside is.

Summing up, if you want great singing get the Mitropoulos Don (or the Krips). To hear/see the drama unfolding, check the Abbado set or DVD
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post #13 of 44
1/29/06 at 3:03pm
Calaf,

That is a heck of a cast (Della Casa, Siepi et al.)! Is the recording in stereo or mono?
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post #14 of 44
1/29/06 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears
Calaf,

That is a heck of a cast (Della Casa, Siepi et al.)! Is the recording in stereo or mono?
Siepi/DellaCasa sparkling as Don Giovanni/DonnaElvira are the reference. And Simoneau is the perfect Don Ottavio.


I remember it is a very good mono recording but I can't verify it because I listened to it online from andante.com which is now sadly gone out of business...

Last time I listened to this recording was after a couple of weeks of watching modern Don Giovannis on DVD (Harnoncourt/Zurich and the Abbado mentioned above). I hate to say that but I was shocked by how much more beautiful the music and the singing were in the '50s
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post #15 of 44
1/29/06 at 3:35pm
Singing better in the 1950s!! What is this world coming to.

I invested a pretty penny in Georg Solti's Don Giovanni after hearing Terfel at the Met Opera and have lived to regret it. That is not the most successful of performances at all and I would advise everyone but the most hardcore Solti or Terfel fans to stay away from it.
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