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Review of Bohm's Magic Flute - long

Posted by TGR (A) on August 3, 2016 at 18:26:56

In a thread below, one of the inmates here extolled the virtues of the Magic Flute led by Böhm on DG, featuring Fritz Wunderlich as Tamino, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Papageno, Evelyn Lear as Pamina, Robert Peters as the Queen of the Night, and Franz Crass as Sarastro. Even though I am relatively put off by Böhm's conducting in general, I wanted to hear this recording, and I was pleased to see that I actually had a pristine copy on my shelf, one that I received when I scored a large collection of opera on LP for free.

The Magic Flute is one of my favorite works, and my first exposure to it was the wonderful Bergman film, which I saw when it first came out. Since then, I have seen it live in 4 or 5 different productions, including one in Vienna - the Volksoper, and not the Staatsoper, but heck, seeing die Zauberflöte in Vienna is a pretty cool deal.

This DG set has received a lot of acclaim, and I am really glad to have heard it, but I personally view it as an alternative, not a primary, choice, for a recording of the Magic Flute. My reasoning is:

First of all, the strengths - Wunderlich is a superior Tamino, no doubt, and Franz Crass has the vocal chops to be a first class Sarastro. I was worried that Fischer-Dieskau would overpower the role Papageno, but by and large he takes the size of his voice down about three notches, and you can also hear the honeyed, liquid tone of his high register, a regular feature of his voice until maybe the late 60s. Occasionally you do hear the steel fist in the velvet glove, but by and large he is a marvelous Papageno.

DG also hired a drama coach for the dialog, and the verbal acting is some of the best that I've heard. And there is undeniable luxury in casting James King and Martti Talvela as the Two Armed Men, even if this was recorded at the beginning of their careers.

Others may disagree, but for me Roberta Peters is at best neutral as the Queen of the Night. She vocalizes well, but doesn't create a strong character. Admittedly, the opportunity to do so is a small one, which means that every phrase has to count, but Peters doesn't get inside the character, and there is a vocal hole - the Queen of the Night must be a felt but unspoken presence, and one forgets about Peters when she is done singing.

I admire Hans Hotter greatly, but he comes across as relatively cavernous in this recording - listen to Fischer-Dieskau as the Speaker in the first Solti recording as a contrast.

Major negatives includes Lear's Pamina, which I can best describe as "splotchy" - not an attractive sound at well (she does act well in the dialogue). Even admirers of this set admit that she is a weakness.
Lenz doesn't do much with Monostatos, and the use of women in the roles of the Three Youths to my ears is a major flaw. The sound lacks contrast with the Three Ladies, for one, and to ears accustomed to the use of actual youths, just sounds wrong - matronly, and not young.

Last, Böhm's conducting, while fine in the faster parts, is overly slow and lacks pulse in the slower sections - for example, the orchestra accompaniment to Tamino's aria "Dies Bildnis" sags.

Again, a fine recording, one that I will listen to again, but my own preferred choice is Solti I, with the Vienna Phil, and featuring Stuart Barrows as Tamino - he is excellent- Hermann Prey's wonderfully sung and characterized Papageno, Pilar Lohengar's very fine Pamina, Talvela's excellent Sarastro, DFD's terrific Speaker, and Christina Deutekom's Queen of the Night - she does create a strong character, although I can see how some might object to her somewhat odd means of coloratura production, but she leaves a lasting impression. Gerhard Stolze creates an unbelievably intense and obsessed Monostatos, and Solti's conducting has nothing to do with the criticisms he often receives - balanced, supportive, and with appropriate tempos -under Solti the music flows. The Two Armed Men are Kollo and Sotin, which is also not so bad.

The sound on the Solti is better too - you can hear much more orchestral detail.

I have not hear every Magic Flute out there, nor even more than a small percentage, so as we say online, YMMV.

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