Cheap Mozart - Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) [HD DVD] (DVD) (Sir Colin Davis, David McVicar) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mozart - Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) [HD DVD]

Excellent performance!
This is a really good performance of the opera. It's sung in German and done "modern style" and is still very enjoyable. I found Will Hartmann to be a little elderly for the part of Tamino, who needs the inexperience of youth to really fill the role, but his voice is gorgeous. The Queen of the Night hits that top F with no problem at all and sings the arias with plenty of drama and clarity particularly in the coloratura, and although the three boy's voices are a little dry they're still excellent singers. Monostatos is particularly good in this performance - it's a part which is often less well sung than some of the other roles, but here he's top notch. <
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>The Papageno is also excellent and compares well with the Bergman film from Drottningholm in the 1970s and also with Benjamin Luxon's version of the character in the late 70s/early 80s. I loved the puppet bird that he had to catch during his first aria (when he does the belly flop at the end and slides across the stage), and the masks of the animals when Tamino charms them in the woods are superb. The only thing that spoiled the performance for me was that the make-up and hairstyles for the Three Ladies and Queen of the Night is very unflattering and in close up filming doesn't work that well. <
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>All in all this is most enjoyable and well deserving of five stars.

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outstanding ...
This performance is exceptionnal ; Papageno, Sarastro and the queen of the night performs superbly ; especially the queen of the night : in her most well-known aria, she manages litterally to radiate hate, and she's served by a perfectly mastered voice. I have 7 different versions of "Zauberflöte" ; this one is THE one. Plus, of course, the benefits of HD, biut even without HD it would have been outstanding. <
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>For people who hates opera, or simply if it is your 1st time as an opera lover, try this one. Really.

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Wonderful sound, video is less than stellar
The sound is wonderful - whether two channel (preferred) or surround. It is a music lover's delight. The video is not so good. It is slightly better than what you would see on cable. The shots are soft. The video doesn't wow the viewer like a HD-DVD should. Get "Die Fledermaus" or "A Midsummer Night's Dream" instead. <
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