James Levine's version of Die Zauberflote is based on performances of the work that he conducted at the Salzburg Festival and it has a number of points you may reckon in its favour; first, it includes all the dialogue; secondly, it has a large repertory of sound effects, thunderclaps and the like, and acoustic representations of what is happening on stage, and thirdly, most important, it has the dramatic vitality that comes from theatrical experience of the work by the whole cast. The cast has many strengths. Above all, perhaps, I enjoyed Ileana Cotrubas's Pamina, intense and very moving, maybe a shade strained in ''Ach, ich fuhl's'', but that is not unreasonable. Eric Tappy makes an ardent if slightly dry-toned Tamino always alert in his phrasing. There is glittering tone and dead accurate coloratura singing from Zdzislawa Donat's Queen of Night, and a charmingly natural, naive Papageno comes from Christian Boesch (along with some delightful warm baritone sound). I don't remember hearing a Speaker more firm, clear and kindly than Jose van Dam—an outstanding little impersonation, this. Then there is the late Martti Talvela's manellously resonant Sarastro; though I have to say that I found his actual treatment of the words disconcertingly bland. The Three Ladies sing with vitality and with a touch of sensuousness too.
Vocally, then, this set can compare with any. But I do not find myself very sympathetic to Levine's tempos; the slow music is often very slow indeed, the fast sometimes too fast. And I prefer a less smooth, more clearly articulated account. But I think many English speakers will be put off this set most of all by the dialogue: not simply its inclusion complete, but the very deliberate, ponderous way in which it is done, which is trying to the patience. True, it's all part of the work; but it's for Mozart's music, I rather think, that we listen to Die Zauberflote. The admirable Haitink (EMI) and Davis (Philips) sets, of which I retain my preference for the latter, get the emphasis where it really belongs.'