Majella Cullagh reviews

Mark Milhofer, Majella Cullagh, Andrew Greenan; Retrospect Opera Chorus; Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Richard Bonynge (Retrospect Opera)

Majella Cullagh, Lucy Vallis, Stephanie Maitland, Matt Mears; Victorian Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Richard Bonynge (Naxos)

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.