Solti provides maximum Mozart

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 18

Solti provides maximum Mozart

MOZART. Die Zauberflote. Sir Georg Solti conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir with soloists. DECCA COMPACT DISCS 414 568-2.

To get the right “Magic Flute” on compact disc must have posed problems. To crystallise the touches of Beecham and Karajan, the intensity of Bruno Walter’s depth of understanding, not to overlook the individual magic with which later conductors, Davis and Haitink, have infused this mature work, Decca has finally plumped for Sir Georg Solti’s 1971 set. Naturally, it is never expected that even the

digitally reprocessed version of any particular conductor will summarise all the best of the others, nor will it magically reach perfection through technicians alone; there is much to consider.

Whatever else one may level at the Solti version, the two points which stand out initially are the live sound quality and the high standard of the soloists. The work has great presence too; a factor which will impress those who were fortunate enough to attend the Canterbury Opera Trust’s performance in the James Hay Theatre.

There are some reservations. Those who remember Solti’s “Ring Cycle” of the early sixties will be excused for fearing the same inflated sounds in this set. Solti may have yielded to the schoolboy urge to make over much of “Rainbow Bridge” and other Wagnerian themes, but it would have dented his image more so to have repeated the childish exercise in the “Magic Flute.”

In any event, Mozart’s masterpiece does not lend itself so readily to artificial amplification. What

is apparent here is the genuine power of the VPO and the State Opera Chorus, the truly great performances of the soloists, headed by Martti Talvela (Sarastro), Stuart Burrows (Tamino), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Speaker), Kurt Equiluz (First Priest), Christina Deutekom (Queen of the Night), Pilar Lorengar (Pamina), Hermann Prey (Papageno) and Renata Holm (Papagena). In close order of merit, Hermann Prey reminds us just how superb he was at this stage of his. career, how closely-knit were the leading women’s voices and the’ workman-like quality of Stuart Burrows’ splendid tenor voice. There are few weak spots, the performances remarkably even throughout.

One must remember that no set is perfect, in every aspect. Solti is certainly not my favourite conductor as his other artificial devices are sometimes suspect. Nevertheless, this performance, for all of its 16 years, is thoroughly convincing. At the price, it comes as more of an investment than something that could be readily changed with a slight change of heart. However, with this in

mind I feel it could safely be bought, in spite of small niggles with preferred singers in some roles. .

MOZART. Piano Concertos 15 and 21 played by Alfred Brendel, piano, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Orchestra, conducted by Neville Marrlner. PHILIPS COMPACT DISC 40# 018-2.

It is reassuring to have this pair firmly set on compact disc. These are authentic, according to Brendel, and I suspect he is right. In place of the staid tempos and “maestoso” in the outer movements of the K 467, we are met with brisk, light speeds and the cadenza, brilliantly shaped by Radu Lupu.

The results are quite Intoxicating. Marriner keeps up manfully with Brendel’s ideas on the subject and the whole effect far exceeds those of Barenboim and others from an earlier period. Gone is the pomp and stodge with two completely convincing performances from a pair who are expected to provide the unusual from time to time. The sound quality matches the artistic standards.