Simon Keenlyside reviews
Mozart: The Magic Flute
Of all repertoire operas, none gains more than The Magic Flute from performance in the language of the audience. Jeremy Sams’s translation is deft yet never self-consciously clever, and the cast (all British except for Elizabeth Vidal’s Gallic Queen of the Night) speak the dialogue so engagingly that it emerges naturally from the musical numbers. Indeed, contrary to the usual feeling with other recordings that the dialogue had been insufficiently trimmed, I actually wished more of it were included.
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte
This is Covent Garden’s latest Magic Flute production, filmed in January. It’s a mixed bag, hard to recommend as a total Flute experience over other DVDs already available. For one component part, though, it’s a must-have. Simon Keenlyside’s Papageno offers none of the vaudeville high jinks traditionally associated with the role: he brings to its comedy a Pierrot lunaire-like poetry, precisely achieved down to the smallest detail. This Papageno arouses both delight and poignant emotions, and his singing is wonderfully strong and true in style.