Rating: 
Summary: Worst Magic Flute Ever
Review: I have watched several live Magic Flute productions and a few other video productions. And this is THE WORST EVER. First, I would like to mention that I love imaginative interpretation. But this one tries to be different and look avant-garde, but yet lacks imagination and artistic quality.
Musical performance. Very bad. Pick up any Magic Flute CD randomly. It cannot be worse than this. Technical sound quality. It sounds very archaic. So bad. It is worse than the good quality LP mono recording that I have. Besides, why should I
watch Magic Flute in Sweedish ? If it's not original German, I would rather choose English. And I am sure that if there is an another Magic Flute produced in China and sung in Chinese, that DVD will get billions of 5 star rating. This Amazon rating system is simply ridiculous.
In the beginning of the opera, while Overture is being performed, it shows the face of a girl in audience for a long time. What is this ? Why should I watch this girl's face so long time ? Why ? If her expression, harmony with back ground, different angle, etc.. create artistic quality, I would understand. But it's not like that.
Rating:
Summary: Magic Flute
Review: I shall be happy to review this whenever it is delivered. Thus far it is three weeks late.
Rating:
Summary: Not for Magic Flute or opera fans.
Review: I thoroughly disagree with the other reviewers who gave this DVD 4 or 5 stars. This is a very strange edition of The Magic Flute, more of an avante-garde film statement by Ingmar Bergman than an enjoyable presentation of the opera. The camera work is maddening, being mostly confined to extreme facial close-ups during the opera, and only showing the stage as a whole during intermission and a few other scenes. In addition, the camera keeps returning to one young girl in the audience, whose facial expression is unchanging anyway; what was the point of this? The singing is fine if you want to listen to a German opera sung in Swedish, but if you understand any of the original it won't sound the same at all, and that spoiled it for me. About the only positive comment I have is that the people writing the English subtitles tried very hard to get them to rhyme with the music, although they had to change the meaning considerably in several instances. There are several scenes where the opera singers themselves present giant audience note-cards (in Swedish) reiterating what they are singing - again, why? Finally, the jacket copy makes a big deal of the full-stereo sound track and how it matches the performer's locations on the stage exactly (like, how could it not?), but I did not think the audio quality was all that spectacular, and the film quality is mediocre at best. Finally, Ingmar Bergman actually rearranges the presentation of some of the final scenes in Act II and includes a very strange interpretation of the trials by water and fire, which was the last straw for me. I tried to like this DVD, but it had too much strangeness going against it. All-in-all, if you really like Mozart's opera, you probably won't like this presentation. On the other hand, if you don't like opera much, but you do like weird Indie films, you'll probably like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch it, listen to it, love it!
Review: I was eight years old when I first saw this film at my friends house. His mother was a music teacher and one of the first ones in my class who owned a video. I fell in love with the movie and visited there several times, just to see the movie (to my friends diapointment). Now, 22 years later, I'm still in love.Håkan Hagegård is wonderful as Papageno and Ragnal Ulfung is really scary as Monostatus. I can but recommend this for everyone. If any opera should be watched on TV, this is the one.
Rating:
Summary: The most magical flute on the screen
Review: I was inspired to return to this version of Mozart's joyous singspiel by a recent televised version from a major opera house(whose name I shall not state in the possibly forlorn hope that they and I will forget the whole sorry mess.) To those here who have complained about dialog cuts in this version, the TV production had all or nearly all the spoken words and in German. Some of it was well-pronounced and some rather less so. It did not make much difference to the drama of the piece, which is primarily in the music. For those really hot for 18th Century dramatic poesie auf deutsch, go to a production of Goethe's Faust (if you can find one.) The cult of the original language is a fairly recent one, largely due to the introduction of titling schemes in opera houses around the world. It was not always so. Not so long ago, opera audiences--particularly those in Europe--preferred to understand what was being vocalized up there on the stage. Il Flauto Magico had a long run in Italy. The great Caruso had his way with Wagner in a trans-alpinized, Italian version of Die Meistersinger. And the greatest Wagner worshiper of them all wrote the he was looking forward to a production of his Tristan und Isolde in London as soon as he could obtain a decent English translation. This version of Die Zauberfloete is in Swedish--live with it! For the vast majority of North Americans, it is a substitution of one incomprehensible Germanic language for another. This is a film made for Swedish televison by a master. It is neither a theatrical movie nor a stage production. It does not bind the opera with the inevitably naturalistic requirements of movies nor does it suffer the practical limitations of the proscenium-bound theater. For one thing, it is often bathed in light, while a typical stage production is a pretty dark affair. That dreadful TV production I started with positively abounded in darkness visible, even to the extent of using dull grays and browns for its costumes and sets--a Magic Flute by way of Wozzeck! In this version we often have the illusion of bright sunlight, just the thing for a fairytale comedy--and all the better to contrast the occasional stabbing darkness. Musically speaking, this version isn't bad at all. It does not equal some of the great recorded performances. Its cast includes no Erna Berger or Fritz Wunderlich or Hans Hotter, granted, but they are not bad. The fellow doing Papageno is really quite a treat. On the other hand, it is not so awful as the famously wretched Toscanini version. (Inspector Morse was absolutely right about that one.) Give this Swedish Flute a try. It's a good bet that both Manny Schickaneder and Wolfie Mozart would give it thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece Opera Film: The Magic Of Mozart
Review: In 1975, director Ingmar Bergman produced this version of Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Mozart's final and greatest opera. It is in my personal opinion, the greatest interpretation of the Magic Flute ever made on film. It is more than anything a film, made in the style of the foreign film or art-house genre. Shot on location in a Stockholm theatre and sung in Swedish, this version provides the audience with a truly theatrical experience. We are viewing not only the lavish spectacle, but the spectators of the show in their seats, in much the same way Edgar Degas painted his theatrical paintings of stage ballets. Of course even better would have been a film shot inside the Theatre An Der Wien in Vienna, the very same community theatre where Mozart premiered his opera in 1791 and sung in its original German. But nobody's perfect. This film however, is as close to perfect as possible. By 1975, the famous German singers whose recordings have now been remastered and lauded as the finest singers of the 20th century- baritone Kurt Moll, soprano Elizabeth Schwartzkopff, baritone Walter Berry, tenor Fritz Wunderlich, soprano Anneliese Rothenberger and soprano Lucia Popp and Rita Streich all who have performed in The Magic Flute with enormous success, had long retired. This film instead casts obscure Swedish singers. But that's really of very little importance in the light of its excellent production. When I think of The Magic Flute, this Bergman version automatically comes to mind. It has the definitive "Magic Flute" look, as far as costumes, personality in charactes and scenery. Fortunately, it's not one of those abstract productions, many times limited in imagination by budget cuts. It's got the very essence of The Magic Flute and it's visually presented as I'm sure Mozart himself would have approved. Sarastro looks benign, God-like and wise with old age, robed and bearded. Tamino and Pamina look like an ideal and youthful couple, the Queen of the Night and her ladies are devilish and appropriately nocturnal and the Three Boys are like cherubs floating around on their hot air balloons. Mozart loved this opera more than any other he had made, surpassing in music and drama even the public pleasing Le Nozze Di Figaro and Don Giovanni. In his death bed, Mozart was heard to say, "If only I can hear my Magic Flute once more before I die. It will ease the sorrow." The opera combines the conventional classical form that Mozart refined more than any other composer of the age, beautiful singing and symbolic drama composed of Masonic fantasy. Both Mozart and his librettist Emanuel Schikaneder were Freemasons, whose societies met secretly in loges because at this time the Austrian Empire authorities, who were devout Catholics, banned the practice of Freemasonry. The Freemasons were democratic thinkers, glorifying individuality and equality and all the philosophies of the Enlightenment. Among the Freemasons was Benjamin Franklin and Beethoven. The Magic Flute is still a mystery to many music analysts. It's most likely that it was a satire fantasy mocking the oppressive imperialism of Austria at the time and praising the Enlightenment and ideals of Freemasonry. The Queen of the Night was modeled after Empress Maria Theresa who banned the Freemasons, Sarastro is Zoroaster or Zarathustra a manifestation of the Freemason's highest beliefs, Tamino is said to be Emperor Joseph II and Pamina is Austria herself. Enjoy the most beautiful opera Mozart ever made- the spirituality of Sarastro's singing and his chorus of priests, the comic stylings of Papageno and Papagena, the lyricism of Pamina and Tamino, and perhaps the most spiritual portion of the film, the Trial of Fire and Water. On DVD, this experience is enhanced with greater sound and special features. A must have. Five Stars all the way.
Rating:
Summary: Mozart With Lutefisk
Review: In the Scandinavian countries, there is a hoary dish called lutefisk, a dried cod later inebriated with water to rinse out the lye from its preserving. Its origin lay in Viking times, when the women dried the cod, drove away insects with lye, and then revivified it by soaking it in a potash solution, followed by a vigorous boiling. To the Scands, this stinky dish is a beloved offering, served with melted butter. It is an acquired taste.
What we have here is the lutefisk version of MF. I thoroughly adore it. Unfortunately, most of the productions we see these days are cast as revivals of the Classic Period. Mozart was no slave to this era, you will remember, and so he ventured into mythology. Why deny the folklore? Why make MF chipper to the point of denying its mythological origins? And this is the value of Bergman's production.
Why settle for a Queen of the Night and a Sorastro whose seeming causes might be so mundane as to be candidates for Judge Judy? Unfortunately, that's the way most productions turn out. Instead, Bergman draws out the darkness of the encounter, recalling the arctic pantheon which passed to Germanic mythology. In this sense, it is more seminal than Wagner.
Granted, it's a darker MF than one wants to see. But it's more honest to the original production Mozart had in mind and likely produced.
As for complaints about the faces in the audience: Relax. Remember that Mozart in his poverty wrote opera in an era when it was crowd pleasing entertainment, the "interactive" stuff of its day, in which the singers beckoned audience response. Talk about "Oklahoma!" In this light, Bergman should come off as very conservative. My complaint would be that he didn't make those faces even more emphatic, showing expressions of wonder or disagreement, as opposed to such dead pan mugs.
Speaking of faces, what a Papageno, corn bred from down on the farm! And the Three Spirits cast as kids are a joy, rather than middle aged women imitating the ethereal voices Mozart scored. It's in the spirit of the work, to contrast lighter voices, after all, with the heavies.
What a fine work. And how grateful we should be for Bergman's darker understanding, finally equalling what Mozart has in mind. I'm no partisan, you understand, as there are other fine productions, with wonderful voices and solos.
Go buy it, already. Shop around on Amazon for a good price as this DVD is not greatly sought.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, unless you care about the story.
Review: It's pretty, and the singing is competent. But too much is cut from the book. Dialog isn't just there to waste time between musical numbers; you have to develop the story. I realize, of course, that people generally go to the opera simply for the music, but as a composer of opera myself, I can tell you that the story is the most important part of the piece; without it, the music is pointless. And even when the music is Mozart's, you can take out large chunks of dialog simply because they're not sung and still expext the piece to work as a whole. For a truly wonderful video of Magic Flute, I recommend the Metropolitan Opera recording from the late eighties. This is the production that set the standard for all contemporary productions to follow. Right now, it's still VHS only, but it's still more than worth it. And it respects the story as well as the music.
Rating: 
Summary: Artsy-Fartsy
Review: Mozart wrote this opera after becoming a Freemason, so we are dealing with an ancient and archtypal story that gets to the pit (and the pith) of things. The Freemason ceremonies go back to the ancient Greek mystery plays, and the Egyptian funerary rites, and Mozart deftly translates these ancient rites into a stunning and gripping musical. Enter Ingmar Bergen, cinematic genius. He brings new life into this terribly ancient story, and captures the essence of the sotry for the cinematic medium. It is sung in Swedish, but retains Mozart's music, which is the reason why we are seeing this movie. Bergan presents "Flute" as a play-witnin-a-movie, so we fade in and out of the story. especially avant-guard was the intermission where we see cast mebers behind the scenes smoking and playing chess. This worked for me. Then again, I believe that Wellles' "The Trial" outstripps "Citizen Kane." There was some editing, and costuming descisions that I personally object, however, on the whole, this film meets the standards of hisgh art.
Rating:
Summary: Die Zauberflöte
Review: Mozart's operatic explication of the mysteries of Freemasonry is part frat-house ritual, part custody dispute, and two parts love story. In the tradition of German 'singspiel', it combines the sung and spoken voice. The influence of grand opera on the tradition shows up in the mixture of aria and recitative in the sung portions. Mozart composed the music for a libretto in German by Emmanuel Schikaneder. Ingmar Bergman's film of 'The Magic Flute' is one of the better attempts at tranfering an opera to the screen. In fact many claim it's the best, but I would argue with that. Certainly, it's in the top five, but I find the Harnoncourt/Ponnelle production of 'The Coronation of Poppea' superior. That however is my favorite opera so I may be prejudiced. Bergman wisely avoided using a naturalistic setting such as Franco Zefferelli and Petr Weigl have used for their opera films. He retains the staginess of opera by presenting it as a performance before an audience (Ponnelle did the same a few years earlier). But he doesn't limit the view to what can be seen through the proscenium. He uses the techniques of cinema to keep the camera moving around the scenery and the singers. At intermission, he shows the performers backstage which itself is a performance (ie, it's not documentary footage). Occasionally, he appears to use location shots such as during Pamina's despair. Bergman keeps the viewer's eye active throughout. I was doubtful about a film of 'The Magic Flute' sung in Swedish, but, for one who doesn't speak German, the difference is barely noticeable. If anything, Swedish is a more mellifluous language than German, and the result sounds rather Italianate. The singers are all good, and they look like their roles for the most part. The sound was pre-recorded, and Bergman had the singers perform to the music at half-voice during filming. The lip-sync is therefore perfect, not only in lip movement, but in spatial location as well. Boy sopranos sing the roles of the three angels. During the overture, Bergman chose to show faces in extreme close-up of people of various ages and races as though they are the world audience. All reviews that I've seen say it's a great conceit, but I found it annoying and unimaginative. The shots of the little girl that pop up at random moments are particularly distracting. That Bergman would want to demonstrate that Mozart is for the whole world but at the same time translate into his own language seems contradictory. I assume Criterion did their best with the available prints, but the film looks rather worn. The colors have faded, the picture is granular at times, and dropouts are frequently evident. The sound though is impeccable. The DVD has no extra materials; only the choice to turn the English subtitles on or off. I'm always annoyed when producers don't provide subtitles in the original language, but I'm not sure what that would be here, German or Swedish. In any case, the film frequently displays placards with the Swedish lyrics. Despite my quibbles, it's a joyful and wonderful film, and the DVD is worth the price.
|
