WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)

 

The Magic Flute

Singspiel in two acts

Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, English translation by Jeremy Sams

 

Tamino, a Javanese Prince .................................            Barry Banks tenor

Queen of the Night ............................................            Elizabeth Vidal soprano

Pamina, her daughter ....................................... Rebecca Evans soprano

 

Three Ladies, attendants to the Queen:

First Lady ............................................................         Majella Cullagh soprano

Second Lady .......................................................          Sarah Fox soprano

Third Lady............................................................         Diana Montague mezzo-soprano

Papageno, a bird catcher ....................................           Simon Keenlyside baritone

Papagena ...........................................................          Lesley Garrett soprano

Sarastro, Priest of the Sun..................................            John Tomlinson bass

Monostatos, a Moor, overseer at the temple                      John Graham-Hall tenor

Speaker, an elderly priest ...................................           Christopher Purves bass

Two Armed Men...................................................          Peter Bronder tenor, Christopher Purves bass

First Priest...........................................................          Christopher Purves bass

Second Priest ......................................................          Peter Bronder tenor

Three Boys ..........................................................         Debbie Tyfield, Nazan Fikret,Victoria Jones

 

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Geoffrey Mitchell Choir

New London Children’s Choir

Gareth Hancock assistant conductor

Sir Charles Mackerras

 

The Magic Flute is an opera of paradoxes: on the one hand it’s a charming fairytale, on the other, it’s an allegory, deeply mysterious and rich in

symbolism. It is funny yet deadly serious; popular entertainment yet high art, as startlingly original and innovative today as it was when it was written in 1791. It also contains some of the finest vocal music Mozart ever produced. On this glorious new recording a cast of international renown performs the work in English, enabling all the nuances of the drama to be fully appreciated.

 

This is the premiere recording of the opera in English in a brilliantly idiomatic translation by Jeremy Sams.

 

Sir Charles Mackerras has spent many years researching performance practice of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He is a noted authority on Mozart’s operas, having studied many contemporaneous manuscripts, and his Mozart recordings are highly regarded.

 

Here, in his 80th-birthday year, is confirmation of Sir Charles Mackerras’s credentials as one of the leading Mozart interpreters of our time. With an outstanding, hand-picked cast, he breathes fresh magic into this most magical of operas, inspiring singing and playing of fabulous lightness and poise. Another feather in Opera in English’s cap.

Gramophone

 

Chandos 2cds CHAN3121-2