When considering Furtwängler’s legendary readings at the Salzburg Festival, it is best to put aside all the revaluations of Mozart interpretation that have occurred in the half a century and more since this performance was recorded at the first season of a new production at Salzburg, and accept the great man on his own, unorthodox terms. In spite of adverse criticism at the time and since, the conductor’s often leisurely traversal of the score has its own validity in terms of his sincere treatment of the famous work that derives from long study of the opera’s meaning. That his ideas work so well in a theatrical context is at once a paradox and a miracle.

As far as Furtwängler is concerned this account differs very little from that of two years later enshrined on EMI. Some very slow tempi for for Tamino’s arias, the ‘Hmm, hmm, hmm’ quintet and Sarastro’s second aria do cause one a cultural shock at first: heard in the context of a performance that is otherwise lively all round, they are understandable. A deal of dialogue is included, which explains the three-CD format.

In the matter of casts, it’s a case of swings and roundabouts. Erich Kunz in 1951 is in almost every way superior to the rather dry-voiced and serious Papageno of Schmitt-Walter (by the way, the booklet photos here all show Kunz in the part, a slip on Orfeo’s part). Where Tamino is concerned, Ludwig, noted in the part since singing it at Glyndebourne in 1935, presents a forthright, nobly heroic prince with a wide palette of dynamic colouring. Anton Dermota in 1951 looks forward to the lighter-voiced takers of the role that came after. Both are quite first-rate. Ludwig evinces no trouble with the slow speeds allotted him, indeed makes a virtue of them. The 1949 cast has the more impressive trio of ladies. Of the singers who appeared on both occasions, Seefried is slightly more confident and articulate in 1951 but there’s not much in it. Greindl is steadier in 1949, Lipp virtually the same in both versions. Klein remains a suitably evil-sounding Monostatos.

Both sets enjoy reasonably good mono sound. If pressed to a choice I would just prefer 1951 on account of Kunz’s engaging birdcatcher. I will be putting both performances in context of all the many, many other sets on offer in a later ‘Collection’ article to launch Mozart Year.