What's the most important thing a person looks for in a Magic Flute? Frankly, if you think deeply enough, ultimately, what makes or breaks a flute is the Queen of the Night!! Yes, the most important cornerstone of a Magic Flute is the Queen of the Night. What all of us look for ultimately is the Queen of the Night because her arias are the most dazzling and brilliant in the whole opera, and indeed, is one of the most dazzling and fascinating in the whole of the opera repertoire. So this particular magic flute fulfils one of the most important prerequisites of a Magic Flute - it has an outstanding Queen of the Night, Sumi Jo. Spectacular, brilliant, dazzling and flung out with astonishing ease and accuracy in precision. Her trills are beyond belief. Whereas many outstanding Queen of the Nights, including Lucia Popp and Duetekom cheats on the trills and misses out a note here and a note there, the notes are intact in Sumi's case. The first time I heard her, I was absolutely thrilled and stunned.

Of course, a weak Queen destroys a flute but a good Queen doesnot make a bad flute good. Fortunately for us, the rest of the cast is well-nigh flawless. Ziesek here sings with tremendous freshness and intelligence. She portrays what Pamina should be - a young girl with the kind of innocence so often missing in other flutes. Ziesek's characterization of Pamina here is simply outstanding. It is often the case that the role of Pamina is given to singers who sing beautifully but without characterization or emotions. So you end up with a Pamina whose arias are all beautifully executed but with not much character in them. Not so here - you hear her desperation and despair, here sincerity. This is an exceptional Pamina.

The Papageno here is also outstanding and listening to the dislogue itself will have some of you in stitches. The arias are wonderfullly executed with appropriate characterization. Heilmann is also an outstanding Tamino. He is not daunted by the high tessitura of his lines and everything is wonderfully executed. Kurt Moll - well, I don't have to say anything. Like Christa Ludwig, or Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, it is hard to ever find too much fault with anything that Moll does. Here, he is, as expected, an outstanding Sarastro. Solti, of course, is the star of this production. He is often criticized for his vertical stop-go approach. Happily, his pacing in this flute is wonderfully done. The overture, in particular, is the best I've ever heard - better than Bohm or Klemperer. It springs and skips along like lambs playing and frolilcking merrily on the hillside. There is no Wagner-style heaviness and fierceness, only Mozartian lightness and humor. The Queen of the Night's arias are paced terrifically and so is the Papageno/Papagena duet. Many conductors make the mistake of pacing these arias too slowly. Solti, on the other hand, quickens the pace by a hair's breath with astonishingly good results. It's not too fast but yet not cumbersome like some other conductors. For instance, Klemperer, Bohm and even Solti in his old set paces the Papageno/Papagena duet too slowly so that while the duet is well-sung, the humor and lighter side of the duet is missing.

I don't suppose I need to say anything about the Vienna Philharmonic. Those who have been in the classical circuit long enough could close their ears and with 100% assurance say that their playing is nothing short of extraordinary as usual. The celebrated combination of Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic never produces orchestral playing that is anything other than first rate. Witness Solti's ring. However much critics like to criticize Solti's direction, one thing that the critics all agree on is this - the Vienna Philharmonic plays gorgeously for Solti in his Ring. Well, you can be sure of that same high standard in this Magic Flute.