Mozart Magic!
Bruce Kofoed | Twin Falls, ID, USA | 10/29/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I grew up with the complete album these excerpts are drawn from, and have it on LP. Yes, it's in German. I feel this is perfectly in keeping with the performance practices of Mozart's time, in which it was common for an opera to be sung in the language of the country it was presented in. This presents an interesting perspective from the usual Italian in any event. As for the performance the cast is uniformly superb, and how could it not be considering the performers? The singers are truly inside their roles with an ease of delivery to be envied by more recent recordings. Otmar Suitner leads the Dresden Staatskapelle in the most idiomatic performance I've yet heard, full of sparkle, pathos, humor, delicacy, and downright joy. The sound is still very good, the best of its' day, and sounding marvelous. Although in German, if I were to have only one recording it would be this one. Sadly the entire opera is not available at present to the best of my knowledge, but there are delights and treasures to be encountered in these selections."