Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, January 1962.

This largely British cast – the one exception being Hans Hotter as the Speaker – was very much the resident company at Covent Garden in the early sixties and even Hotter was a regular guest there. The star of the evening was Geraint Evans as Papageno, whose interpretation of the role was already very familiar but who rose to new heights of excellence on this occasion. David Cairns writing in The Spectator said of him: ‘Geraint Evans’s Papageno – inspired even for him – is an unending delight, radiating humanity, mercurial, dark-eyed, unpredictable, brilliantly funny, always drawing the attention without ever stealing the scene...’.

In addition to Evans, the performer who received the most praise was Joan Carlyle, a member of the company since 1955, who was performing Pamina for the first time. David Cairns reported that her singing was ‘pure, sensitive and strong and that her acting repeatedly touched the heart by its sureness and sincerity.’ Indeed, in the years that followed she established herself as a major star of the company in a wide variety of roles. Hans Hotter also made a strong impact in the brief but important role of the Speaker of the Temple. Superbly sung, his was a performance of complete musical and dramatic accomplishment. Harold Rosenthal felt that for an artist of his calibre to undertake such a small role spoke volumes for his integrity, and the fact that he treated it with as much care and dignity, as if he were singing Wotan, was an object lesson for every member of the local company. Of the other principals, Richard Lewis repeated his familiar and pleasingly well-sung Tamino and the two pairs of men: John Dobson and Ronald Lewis (Two Priests) and Edgar Evans and Victor Godfrey (Two Armed Men), all veterans of the resident company, contributed first class performances.

Tamino RICHARD LEWIS
Pamina JOAN CARLYLE
Papageno GERAINT EVANS
Papagena JENIFER EDDY
Queen of Night JOAN SUTHERLAND
Sarastro DAVID KELLY
Speaker of the Temple HANS HOTTER
Monostatos ROBERT BOWMAN
Three Ladies JUDITH PIERCE, JOSEPHINE VEASEY, MONICA SINCLAIR
Three Boys MARGARET NEVILLE, ANN HOOD, MARION ROBERTS
First Priest JOHN DOBSON
Second Priest RONALD LEWIS
Two Men in Armour EDGAR EVANS, VICTOR GODFREY
Three Slaves JOHN KOLLMANN, ARTHUR COBBIN, GEORGE BARKER