In the Wings

 I 'm glad to be back on the BLO Blog after a bit of time away -
traveling, reading, listening, looking . I hope that with due diligence I'll be
able to post every Wednesday with items operatic and musical....funny
....serious... unusual....stimulating. A couple of weeks ago I attended a quite
fascinating program at the MFA presented by BLO's Signature Series entitled
""The Magic Flute Variations" where among many other rarely
performed works all related to FLUTE (including excerpts from
Schikaneder's  sequel  DAS LABYRINTH and a few bits  from
Goethe's version of the story )  we heard  the relatively  more
familiar Beethoven Variations on Papageno's aria "Ein Madchen". So
here are some other  takes by various composers on the irresistible music
from Mozart's opera  (The BLO production of FLUTE has only a few more
performances this week. Catch it if you can)

  Here is the Beethoven with the superb cellist Lynn Harrell

LYNN HARRELL - BEETHOVEN 7 VARIATIONS FROM MOZART"S THE MAGIC FLUTE

Two more sets of FLUTE explorations  by two  Spanish virtuosos and
composers:  guitarist   Fernando Sor (1778 -1839) and the  world
famous - in his time  more or less known  the Liszt of the
violin-   Pablo de Saraste (1844- 1908)

PABLO SAINZ VILLEGAS - VARIATIONS  ON THE MAGIC FLUTE OP 9 BY F SOR

 SARASTE CONCERT FANTASY ON MOZARTS MAGIC FLUITE - ANTAL ZALAI

   For a much more modern take check
out this striking  Berio piece where the theme has been totally taken
apart and reassembled so as to be almost unrecognizable.

Luciano Berio: Divertimento per Mozart (1956)