71 The Magic Flute

[manicsounds]

In related news, Kenneth Branagh's "The Magic Flute" finally gets a US DVD release, 7 years after the movie was made

[MichaelB]

It's certainly the only opera I've seen at the ENO or ROH that wasn't performed in its original language.

I thought the ENO almost invariably performed in English? This is certainly true of all the productions I've seen there, although I'm happy to give György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre a free pass on the grounds that Ligeti himself preferred the English and German versions to the original Swedish, and was very keen on the opera being performed in the audience's native language as a general rule.

It was originally in Swedish purely because it was a commission from Stockholm: Ligeti wasn't the least bit precious about its linguistic integrity, and indeed I'm not aware of any original-language recordings ever being released: Wergo's is in German, Sony's in English, and I believe both are composer-approved.

[tavernier]

It's certainly the only opera I've seen at the ENO or ROH that wasn't performed in its original language.

I thought the ENO almost invariably performed in English? This is certainly true of all the productions I've seen there

That's definitely what the ENO does...have they ever performed an opera that's not in English?

[swo17]

March 12 reissue