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The Magic Flute
4 stars Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Tom Service
Saturday September 02 2006
The Guardian
From the very first chord, there is something special about this Magic Flute. Conductor Claudio Abbado achieves a performance of such radiance and refinement from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, it is as if you are hearing Mozart's score for the first time. Every note and every phrase has a clarity and directness of expression that makes you gasp at the virtuosity of the players and the brilliance of Abbado's music-making.
It's yet another example of the searing performances Abbado has given since his recovery from illness a few years ago. But there's no sense of valedictory world-weariness in his approach, still less of an old man's view of Mozart's music. His speeds are quick, and the grace and lightness of touch he draws from the players and singers is testament to how much he has learned from period-instrument performance practice. Throughout, the music glows with an inner fire - whether in the frenetic string lines of the opening scene, as Eric Cutler's gloriously sung Tamino is pursued by a Chinese dragon, or the gossamer accompaniment to Tamino's first-act aria, which begins with aching tenderness and ends in a state of febrile, palpitating excitement. The detail Abbado finds in the music is a continual revelation - for instance, the way he highlights the viola part in the introduction to the Queen of the Night's first-act aria, a sinewy chromatic line that expresses the ambiguity of Eri
ka Miklosa's nocturnal monarch. But it's not just about the fine points of the score: Abbado conjures a dramatic momentum that unifies the whole story.
However, the production, directed by Abbado's son, Daniele, is less convincing. There are lavish touches, such as the gigantic tiger's head in which Monostatos tortures Pamina in the first act, or the gates of stone and fire for the temple of the trials in the second. But all of this is set against minimalist, black backdrops, as if the production is unsure whether it's going for mythical austerity or colourful, panto-like spectacle.
The same insecurity affects the acting. None the less, Julia Kleiter is a vocally stunning Pamina, matching Cutler's insight and intensity above all in her second-act aria. And Miklosa, as the Queen of the Night, gives one of the most secure performances you can imagine of this stratospheric role. Andrea Concetti's Papageno plays the fool with aplomb, and Georg Zeppenfeld is a stern Sarastro. But what makes this Flute unforgettable is Abbado's conducting; do whatever you can to get a ticket.
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