[Met Performance] CID:263630
Die Zauberflöte {244} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/16/1981.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 16, 1981
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE {244}
Pamina..................Lucia Popp
Tamino..................David Kuebler
Queen of the Night......Zdzislawa Donat
Sarastro................Matti Salminen
Papageno................Dale Duesing
Papagena................Betsy Norden
Monostatos..............James Atherton
Speaker.................Donald McIntyre
First Lady..............Loretta Di Franco
Second Lady.............Claudia Catania
Third Lady..............Batyah Godfrey Ben-David
Genie...................David Owen
Genie...................Carl Tramon
Genie...................Owen Renfroe
Priest..................Dana Talley
Priest..................Gene Boucher
Guard...................Timothy Jenkins
Guard...................William Fleck
Conductor...............Lawrence Foster
Review of Patrick J. Smith in Opera (UK)
The revival (which I saw on February 16) went off with a sort of racing dynamism that only indicated some of the score's strengths. Chagall's colourful sets are looking threadbare, and enclose rather than enhance the stage proceedings which, on this occasion, were presented more for easy laughs than for any profundity. Why Lawrence Foster was chosen as conductor is a mystery. He showed little feeling for the give and take of opera conducting, and set fast tempos that were largely inflexible, thus defying the singers to keep pace with him,
The cast, led by David Kuebler's Tamino and Dale Duesing's Papageno, sang with forthright directness and, in the latter's case, American-comic capering, but little vocal elegance. Lucia Popp's Pamina afforded the only glimpse of accomplished Mozart singing. Zdzislawa Donat's Queen of Night exists alone for its accurate staccato in alt; unfortunately for her, the two arias call for more. That difficult role of Sarastro exposes the limitations of Matti Salminen's bass, both in its upper reaches and in its lack of effortless legato.