This old-fashoined Magic Flute, which the Gramophone found "somewhat low in vitality and sparkle, even a shade staid" when it was reissued on CD, was acclaimed in the early digital era on LP. Its strengths are in the casting of young singers who were poised for international prominence or had already attained it: Siegfried Jerusalem as a big-voiced Tamino (later to sing Wagnerian roles like Lohengrin and Parsifal), Lucia Popp as Pamina (graudating from Queen of the Night for Klemperer), and Edita Guberorva as the Queen of the Night, stil one of the best on CD.
Haitink's conducting is often slow and always easy-going, too much so now that we're firmly in the period-performance era. So far as Mozart style goes, his approach is barely updated from Beecham's in the late Thirties. But there's lots of good singing on this rather stingy (58 min.) bargain CD, and overall it's a nice introduction to a Masterpiece, caught in good sound and with fine playing from the Bavarian Radio Sym. Orch.
![DUO Philips [4]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DKI1Jd92L._AA60_.jpg)
