Surprisingly, these two sets have a good deal in common. Both are deeply considered readings, favouring measured tempos. Both concentrate on a very clear exposition of Mozart's instrumentation. Both omit the dialogue entirely, but the new Teldec replaces it with a commentary spoken in one of those portentous voices that seem so often to be the province of the German-speaking stage. The absence of dialogue means both versions are contained on two CDs. Of course, there are marked differences. As was his wont, once Klemperer sets a speed for a number it is hardly varied. Harnoncourt is far more likely to want to emphasize a passage, as he does in his other recordings, by sudden accelerandos or rubatos. The overture is as good an example as any of the contrast of interpretation in this respect. Then there is the size of the orchestras. Klemperer's Philharmonia are obviously the larger body and they play in the traditional romantic style of approaching Mozart in which Klemperer was brought up. Harnoncourt, with his well-briefed Zurich forces, prefers a smaller band, not playing authentic instruments but following period practice in eschewing vibrato and in encouraging a fairly raw sound from wind and brass.
The choice of cast follows a similar pattern. Klemperer used predominantly large voices, many of them familiar in music of a grander kind than Mozart. Harnoncourt, with the exception of his Sarastro, goes for lighter voices, as is the custom increasingly today with this composer. That, allied to crisp, rhythmically vital conducting sets Harnoncourt's version apart from all its rivals at present. His young lovers couldn't be more appealing. Hans Peter Blochwitz sings Tamino with youthful ardour in a fresh, reedy tenor (as against Gedda's heavier, less wieldy voice). Barbara Bonney, adding to her growing reputation on disc, is a disarmingly ingenuous Pamina, deeply affecting in her G minor aria, where Janowitz, for all the creamy loveliness of her voice, is relatively bland in expression, she also makes virtually nothing of the key cries of ''Die Wahrheit'' in Act 1, where Bonney is properly sincere and moving.
Anton Scharinger's eager, boyish Papageno is one of the delights of the Harnoncourt performance. He is at once endearing and eager without being in the least self-conscious. The heavier-voiced Berry is hardly less likeable, but he is occasionally weighed down by Klemperer's ponderousness. Salminen is a rather smoother Sarastro than Frick, but neither is quite an ideal Mozartian. Popp, in her EMI debut, remains an irreplaceable Queen of Night—firm, accurate and authoritative, and benefiting from Klemperer's steady tempos. Gruberova is almost as good, but the voice has lost a little quality since she recorded the role for Haitink. Hampson isn't quite such a telling Speaker as Crass and I much prefer the Ladies on the new set to those on the EMI, a trio led by Schwarzkopf's insufferably coy First Lady. Edith Schmid is a particularly delightful Papagena, and the utterly enchanting account of her duet with Scharinger's Papageno would have to sway me in favour of Harnoncourt, which also has the advantage of a wonderfully vivid, true recording. The EMI sounds remarkably lifelike for its age, except that there is some tape distortion in Popp's first aria. Against Harnoncourt must be set the intrusive narrative, and the unnaturally slow tempo for ''Bei Mannern''. In general, the Harnoncourt offers a different approach from its modern rivals, so that it doesn't quite come into competition with the recommendable sets conducted by Davis (Philips) and Haitink (EMI), both taking three CDs, but I certainly enjoyed it as much as either of these competitors, especially for the way it judiciously balances the jolly and serious elements in the piece.
The Klemperer comes, I suppose, into the historic category; as such it needs also to be compared with the recently reissued first Karajan set, also devoid of dialogue, and has to be preferred for the sake of its conductor's deeper though sometimes lethargic reading and a marginally better cast. Both tend to sound like concert rather than theatre performances. With Beecham's version due for reissue soon, the collector will have available all the famous versions of the past.'