DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE:Mozart
Daniel; Dunleavy, Cutler, Gunn, Miklósa, Robinson
Original Air Date: 01/21/2006
SID.19440532
NYT Midgette [1/23/06]: The Met seems to have cast this one with an eye to some of its younger home-grown singers: Eric Cutler as Tamino, Morris Robinson taking a big step from smaller roles to Sarastro. A certain callow quality was a result. Mr. Cutler has a nice, firm instrument but wielded it clumsily. In “Dies Bildnis,” his first aria, he got a big sound on the top notes but didn’t carry it down to the lower ones: in general, he moved through the role adequately, but without any particular flair. Mr. Robinson’s voice was tight and closed off; I wondered if he might be fighting a cold. Coincidentally Gregory Reinhart showed a startlingly powerful bass making his company debut in the role Mr. Robinson sang in the first run of this production, the Second Armed Man. This left the coast clear for Mary Dunleavy to shine as a warm, well-sung Pamina, and Nathan Gunn to caper as Papageno, milking every line. Erika Miklosa, the Queen of the Night, had a slender nothing of a voice that she powered up for the coloratura sections, appropriately bell-like if not especially precise. The Three Ladies didn’t sound quite coordinated: perhaps because of debut jitters on the part of Susannah Glanville as the First Lady. Also making his debut was the conductor Paul Daniel, who got off to an unfortunate start with an overture that sounded sluggish, but who worked his way into the music and created a lighter agility by Act II..