Description:

The sound of this Die Zauberflöte is middling, the cuts to the dialogue reduce the opera’s plot to nonsense and the supporting cast is so-so. But Thomas Beecham’s light, expertly assembled approach to one of Mozart’s deepest scores makes a firm impact in this 1958 performance from Buenos Aires. Equally at home in the grandeur of Sarastro’s Temple or the less lofty subplot of Walter Berry’s sublime Papageno, Beecham paints the opera in magnificent, vivid colors. Anton Dermota and Pilar Lorengar shine in the leading roles, and Rita Streich, after a tentative “O zittre nicht” blows the roof off the Teatro Colón with a blazing “Der Hölle Rache.”

OD 11211-2