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Mozart Year: Which Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) and Don Giovanni recordings are best? - Page 3

post #31 of 44
2/1/06 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears

I don't know how Abbado does opera, but I'm a little doubtful about Magdalena Kozena. Her voice has a very earthy quality that I'm not sure goes that well with Mozart, and her stage presence doesn't suggest a lot of acting ability.
Is Kozena singing the role of Countess? She may sound OK (since she already recorded Cleopatra for Minkowski's "Giulio Cesare" with some success) but certainly hers will have to be an interpretation of the "alternative" kind. (A countess of cover model glamor and refinement! ) As for her capacity in acting, I take your point she isn't a very able actress but will also note her apparent eagerness to act, given the few reports I read of her "histrionics" onstage even in singing sacred music.
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post #32 of 44
2/2/06 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masolino
Is Kozena singing the role of Countess? She may sound OK (since she already recorded Cleopatra for Minkowski's "Giulio Cesare" with some success) but certainly hers will have to be an interpretation of the "alternative" kind. (A countess of cover model glamor and refinement! ) As for her capacity in acting, I take your point she isn't a very able actress but will also note her apparent eagerness to act, given the few reports I read of her "histrionics" onstage even in singing sacred music.
I saw her singing the final song in Mahler's 4th last week. Her husband, Sir Simon Rattle was conducting (and the less said about that the better), and she sounded about as childlike as my mother. She also has a peculiar stance on stage, standing very squarely on her spread feet while swaying to the music, her hands alternately limp at her sides or clasped. She never looked at the audience or her husband, but had her gaze cast down to the side as if staring at a mark on the stage floor. Extremely unengaging. Hopefully her singing in Mozart will have more animation.
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post #33 of 44
2/2/06 at 4:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears
I saw her singing the final song in Mahler's 4th last week. Her husband, Sir Simon Rattle was conducting (and the less said about that the better), and she sounded about as childlike as my mother. She also has a peculiar stance on stage, standing very squarely on her spread feet while swaying to the music, her hands alternately limp at her sides or clasped. She never looked at the audience or her husband, but had her gaze cast down to the side as if staring at a mark on the stage floor. Extremely unengaging. Hopefully her singing in Mozart will have more animation.
Oh dear. Rattle recorded his Mahler 4 with whom, Amanda Roocroft? and she was critically thrashed for her singing as well. Maybe there's something wrong with his vision of the music. Back to Kozena, I must say from all her public photo's one is never going to guess at her peculiar stage behaviors. The majority view of her performance in opera seria is that she does just fine (Handel, Gluck), but Figaro is an opera buffa, and, as you suggested, Kozena may just not be an actress who's animated enough for it well.
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post #34 of 44
2/2/06 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Masolino
Oh dear. Rattle recorded his Mahler 4 with whom, Amanda Roocroft? and she was critically thrashed for her singing as well. Maybe there's something wrong with his vision of the music. Back to Kozena, I must say from all her public photo's one is never going to guess at her peculiar stage behaviors. The majority view of her performance in opera seria is that she does just fine (Handel, Gluck), but Figaro is an opera buffa, and, as you suggested, Kozena may just not be an actress who's animated enough for it well.
I have that M4 and the concert was very similar.

I can see Kozena doing Opera Seria very well. She is a mezzo so perhaps the Mahler was more of a stretch having been scored for a child like soprano voice. Btw, if I were a psychologist, I would have described Kozena as having a "flat affect" -- she conveyed no emotion except with the awkward hand gestures and peculiar swaying. I was thinking that perhaps she has stagefright or something like that. Who knows, perhaps without an audience she is more animated. For all of that it was clear that she is a very pretty woman.
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post #35 of 44
2/13/06 at 6:22pm
Thread Starter 
I'd like to report back on Östmann's Zauberflöte (Decca) that was recommended earlier in this thread. It is musically exceptional, the small orchestra plays with authority but isn't overpowering and lets the wonderful voices really shine! An immaculate recording, you think you are live there in front row, especially during the dialogues. Thanks for the heads-up!
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post #36 of 44
7/10/06 at 9:00pm
reviving this old thread to report that Krips Don Giovanni has been re-released at budget price by Membran International


Still working my way through it but I would already say that at $14 (or less from berkshirerecordoutlet) there is no excuse not to own it...

Membran also re-released E. Kleiber Nozze di Figaro which, while not in the same league as Jacobs', is a classic and has the best Bartolo I have heard (Fernando Corena, irresistible in the chair scene of the first act) and an excellent Lisa della Casa as the Countess.

Both operas come in classy digipacks with smart-looking, content-free liner notes (no libretto included).
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post #37 of 44
7/12/06 at 3:38pm
Abbado's very recent release of Die Zauberflote is astoundingly good. One of the best recordings of any opera I have heard for a long time. He was chief of La Scala and Vienna State Opera so he should know a thing or two about opera.

For the oldies Fricsay's recording has some damn fine singing on it.
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post #38 of 44
7/13/06 at 11:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunnyears
I'm a little doubtful about Magdalena Kozena. Her voice has a very earthy quality that I'm not sure goes that well with Mozart, and her stage presence doesn't suggest a lot of acting ability.
An update on Kozena:

Since writing that I saw her in concert with Bernard Labadie and les Violons du Roy where she performed works from the French Baroque (arias by Gluck and Rameau). Her voice is much more suited to that repetoire and if she is undertaking a mezzo role written with a castrato in mind, I think she does extremely well. The earthy quality in her voice becomes less womanly and more asexually virile sounding (if you can figure out what that means!). Mahler 4th is too much of a stretch because the voice is too physically mature to ever be called childlike.

However good the singing, her stage presence remained really off-putting. Even when attempting to act, she never looked at the audience nor tried to engage it and her body language was still very strange. She also tends to hunch over so that the voice becomes congested in parts. I watched her and had to refrain from shouting at her to stand up straight (which as the mother of 2 daughters who slouch through life, is something I have a lot of practice doing). I also wanted to tell her to stop fidgeting her arms, but good manners prevailed. The concert was generally very good with some wonderful moments and some rather ordinary moments as well. As the good far outweighed the bad, I was not unhappy leaving.

I think if she is singing a role such as Tamino or better yet Sesto or any opera seria role she will probably be quite good as long as you don't have to look at her.
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post #39 of 44
2/23/09 at 2:17am
Bumping an old thread to see if there are any new thoughts on the best Zauberflöte recording.
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post #40 of 44
2/23/09 at 2:32am
for die zauberflote i like the same ones i recommended back then (bohm and klemperer). for DG, my current favorite is the Jacobs. the sound (and performance) is stunning. really all the Mozart operas conducted by Rene Jacobs on Harmonia Mundi are must owns - Cosi, Figaro.
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post #41 of 44
2/23/09 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Earwax View Post
Bumping an old thread to see if there are any new thoughts on the best Zauberflöte recording.
I second lwd enthusiastic recommendation for Abbado's recording. Not only Abbado seems to have found the perfect balance between "period" sensitivities and modern expectations for Mozart, but the female leads Dorothea Roschmann and Erika Miklosa fear no comparisons with any of the great sopranos of the 50's.
BTW you can see Roschmann in action as Pamina in this excellent DVD

which is also starring Simon Keenlyside as a very physical (and hilarious) Papageno.
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post #42 of 44
2/27/09 at 7:25am
The Don Giovanni of Mackerras/SCO on Telarc is worth a look and is now available at mid-price.
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post #43 of 44
2/27/09 at 12:20pm
Since this thread was initiated, René Jacobs has recorded Don Giovanni -- and very well indeed. He has also done a dvd of the opera (available in conventional and blu-ray formats) with many of the same forces as the audio recording.
I do not hesitate to recommend either or both.

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post #44 of 44
11/1/09 at 7:18pm
i've been on a zauberflote binge lately. headphones are not the only thing that is addicting. i love this opera. the goal is to own all the studio recordings. here is a list i made so i can track which ones i own and still need to get.

Amazon.com: Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)
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