The Magic Flute

Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry clearly love Mozart's penultimate opera, a charming fairy tale with Masonic overtones about a prince who seeks to rescue a princess—at her mother's urging—from a supposed villain who turns out to be a wise, benevolent purveyor of enlightenment. But their attempt to transform it into an anti-war parable sung in English is a misfire. Although Fry is a proven wordsmith and Branagh an accomplished director, their 2006 translation of the German text too often comes off as doggerel during arias and ensembles, and the alteration of spoken passages to fit the change of setting—namely, the trenches of World War I—is frankly simpleminded. Still, Branagh does capture some extraordinary visual moments—such as the opening helicopter shots of the battlefields—and the musical side of the performance is solid. American James Conlon conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in a brisk, spit-and-polish reading of the score, while the cast of relative unknowns offer fine singing, including Joseph Kaiser as Tamino, Amy Carson as Pamina, and Lyubov Petrova as the Queen of the Night. Those who prefer a film version of Die Zauberflöte over an opera house rendition are directed to Ingmar Bergman's wonderful 1974 version (VL-3/01): Bergman's Swedish translation may be no better than this English one, but the performance is truly magical. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, extras include a “making-of” featurette and cast and crew interviews. An optional purchase. (F. Swietek)