Die Hits Aus Den Bruderländern

Though back in his Budapest years he had coached "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" for performances conducted by no less a figure that Erich Kleiber, and the opera continued to form part of the everyday repertoire in Germany throughout Solti's career, Mozart's Singspiel nevertheless managed to elude him in theatre until he finally conducted it at Covent Garden in November 1987 - again in the company's first performance of the piece. (It is a rather surprising mark of Solti's Mozartian credentials that he gave the Royal Opera no fewer than three major company premieres of his operas.) Two years earlier he had completed his recording of the work in Vienna, with an outstanding cast at his disposal. Edita Gruberova's comprehensively excellent technique and musicality make her an eloquent Konstanze, Kathleen Battle is the vital, pristine Blonde, Gösta Winbergh a winning Belmonte, Heinz Zednik a charming Pedrillo, and Martti Talvela an Osmin of unusual power and menace.

Recorded in June 2003 at the Zurich Opera Festival, this Die Entführung aus dem Serail (“Abduction from the Seraglio”) has Englishman Jonathan Miller directing a sublime cast. Malin Hartelius as Constanze is delightful throughout, singing effortlessly and bringing real emotion to the moments of introspection. She and Piotr Beczala, a tenor of enormous verve, make an inspiring couple…

This recording of Mozart's first German opera The Abduction From The Seraglio is also on another box set/label and has been re-issued for Deutsche Grammophone, the world's greatest classical music and opera label. The Brit Sir Jon Elio Gardiner conducts at a brisk, lively pace (too fast for some folks) and the principal singers sing with excellent German diction and in the traditional Singspiel style but lack a je ne sais quai to really stand out. Tenor Stanford Olsen sings Belmonte, baritone Hans Peter Minetti as Pasha Selim, soprano Luba Orgonasova as Konstanze, soprano Cyndia Sieden as Blonde, Uwe Peper as Pedrillo and bass Cornelius Hauptmann as Osmin. If you're a fan of any of these singers, this recording is for you…

The plot couldn't be simpler: the Spanish nobleman Belmonte must free his fiancée Konstanze, her English maid Blonde and Belmonte's servant Pedrillo from the clutches of the Turkish Bassa, or Pasha, Selim. Belmonte must sneak into the pasha's seraglio and sneak back out again, all the while eluding and outsmarting Osmin, the overseer of the harem. With his Salzburg production of 2003, young Norwegian director Stefan Herheim raised a storm of controversy that continued to crackle in 2006, when the production was revised for the Mozart 22 cycle. The controversy was largely due to the fact that Herheim transposed the events to the inner world of the human psyche.

“One of Böhm's last operatic assignments, he accompanies his fine cast with huge wisdom. Gruberova and Talvela are outstanding. August Everding's production, adventurous for 1980, is now a delight to look at” (BBC Music Magazine). “the performance has a winning glow, with an excellent cast of soloists. Edita Gruberova as Konstanze is at her freshest…[Grist's Blonde] is a charming and characterful assumption, most of all when confronting the powerful Osmin of Martii Tavela” (Penguin Guide).

Ivor Bolton conducts the 2006 Salzburg production of Mozart's exotic opera of sexual captivity.
Mozart satisfied the popular fascination with the East with this lively and exotic setting of the story of a Western woman held in the Pasha's harem. His opera (written for Vienna in 1782) was a hit with the Emperor and the public and retains its place in the public affection today.
Stefan Herheim's Salzburg production brings together a superb international cast led by two Americans - coloratura soprano Laura Aikin and tenor Charles Castronovo, alongside the well-loved Bavarian Bass Franz Hawlata. Ivor Bolton conducts the orchestra of the Mozarteum, Salzburg.

Director David McVicar's original-period vision for this Mozartian gem allows its genius to speak for itself, offering a mesmerising, sensitive outstanding portrayal of Enlightenment-era fascination with the East that is both exquisitely acted and sung, featuring a Konstanze and a Belmonte sung with finesse and bravura and a sensationally voiced Osmin (The Guardian *****). Comic relief in Glyndebourne's brilliant production is provided by beautifully sung live-wire performances of Pedrillo and Blonde, and Robin Ticciati leads the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment through a restored, authentic rendition of the critical score with lovely fizz and poignant gravitas (The Independent).