Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone) by Mozart, Hennebert, Schack, Gerl, Schikaneder / Pearlman, Boston Baroque

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Artist), Kurt Streit (Artist), Paul Austin Kelly (Artist), Martin Pearlman (Artist), Boston Baroque (Artist), Kevin Deas (Artist), Alan Ewing (Artist), Emanuel Schikaneder (Artist), Chris Pedro Trakas (Artist), Franz Xavier Gerl (Artist), Benedikt Schack (Artist), Johann Baptist Henneberg (Artist), Sharon Baker (Artist), Jane Giering De Haan (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 1999)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B00000JXZU
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #217,913 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

2. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

3. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

4. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

5. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

6. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

2. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

3. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

4. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

5. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

6. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Der Stein der Weisen (Die Zauberinsel), opera

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

What this is not is a previously unknown opera by Mozart; what it is, is a sheer delight, a pastiche by several composers, including Mozart, performed in 1790 at the same theatre and by the same company that, in the following year, presented Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. In fact, Mozart's contribution to The Philospher's Stone is limited to about five minutes of music, but his spirit pervades. This premiere recording includes a bonus CD with a discussion of the piece as well as musical illustrations. Textually, almost every character in Magic Flute has a parallel in this work: Papageno and Papagena are here Lubano and Lubanara, for example, and musically they are eerily alike as well. The world is one of fairy tale and alchemy. It never plumbs the depths of Mozart's late works, but there's joyously good music to latch onto nonetheless. The entire cast is good, with special kudos going to Paul Austin Kelly, who sings tenor music that is difficult enough and chock full of coloratura to match the Queen of the Night's acrobatics. If the entire score is without extra-special brilliance, at least what we get is top-level, very-late-18th-century generic music--sort of like Salieri and company mixed with Mozart. And this definitive performance, on period instruments led by Martin Pearlman, will please everyone. Mozart, not quite; necessary, absolutely. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating look into an opera by committee, September 6, 1999

By	F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The story of how a 1790 Singspiel was returned by Russia to the west and how certain annotations therein astounded musicologists is well told in the booklet that accompanies the new Telarc release of <Der Steinder Weisen (The Philosopher's Stone)> (CD-80508). When I tell you the libretto is by Emanuel Schikaneder, you might recognize his name from "Amadeus" as the owner of the theater in which was performed his libretto for "The Magic Flute" when he also sang the role of Papageno. When I name the committee of composers he hired to help him compose the music in the shortest possible time--Henneberg, Schack, Gerl, Mozart--you might be startled by the last name. You see, the score was lost since the end of World War II when Soviet soldiers carried it back as part of their loot, and it had written in it the names of the composers of certain of the arias, duets, and so on. Well, Mozart's name shows up three times! But that is no reason to go running to purchase this recreation with Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston Baroque and soloists. There is a third CD given as bonus in which the conductor gives a marvelous comparison between this work and "Magic Flute" which came out only a year later, which might tempt you more to make the purchase. I might point out that this work gives fascinating insight into what the public demanded and got during Mozart's lifetime and is therefore invaluable to students of music and the theater--all of which of the above should have you thinking of owning a set. But when I pronounce the work a thing of joy in its own right--you would never guess the circumstances of how it was composed--then you should all wish to give this Telarc recording a hearing right quick. The singers range from more than adequate to quite good. What I miss personally is a lack of drama in the singing. Alan Ewing is Eutifronte, evil god of the underworld, but he sounds no more menacing than Monastros in "Flute." Kurt Streit is Astromonte, a beneficent god, but his singing is not majestic enough. The two main lovers, Paul Austin Kelly and Judith Lovat, are as bland as their later reincarnations, Tamino and Pamina. There is a lot of fun in the rustic goings on of Kevin Davis and Jane Giering De Haan as the spouses Lubano and Lubanara; but again there is not quite enough colorful characterization. The chorus, especially the men (whose Hunting Chorus is quite good), given the non-dramatic lines they have to sing, is exemplary. The Telarc sound is, as always, splendid. By the by, I must report that by far the most inferior song in the piece is one of the three attributed to -- you know whom! But it does anticipate the Cat Duet of Rossini and the Fly Duet in "Orpheus in the Underworld" many decades later. The silly plot also foreshadows equally silly scenarios to such works as "Oberon" and just possibly "Ruddigore," but we can never be certain how such a work was meant to be taken by the audiences of the time. I suppose Oscar Wilde's Miss Prism said it all when she said that when the good end happy and the bad unhappy that is what fiction means! Truly a fascinating offering from Telarc.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOOOOOOOOOOOONDERFUL! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONDERFUL!, November 9, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Seattle) - See all my reviews

I have not liked an opera this much, since well- Die Zauberflote! What a perfect opera to rank along with Le nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflote as one of my favorite operas!

I bought it ONLY because it bore the name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and had that name not been on there this would have been a huge loss. The entire opera is WONDERFUL. Yes the 1 hour and 50 minutes of music that Mozart didn't write is sublime and WONDERFUL!

I can't rave enough. If you love GREAT music- get this....

The duet done by Mozart is wonderful as well!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable insight into Mozart's The Magic Flute, December 21, 2000

By	Barbara Miller (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While I generally agree with the other reviewers of this disc, I would like to add that, for anyone who is fascinated and intrigued by Mozart's Magic Flute, this disc is essential listening. The parallel characters and similar plot motifs (and similar musical motifs, even between the Magic Flute and the non-Mozart music in Der Stein der Weisen) shed light on the fairy-tale elements of Mozart's opera so as to balance out the notion that The Magic Flute sprang up entirely from Mozart's and Schikaneder's Masonic ideas.

I also suspect that there is somewhat more of Mozart's music in this piece than the press reviewer counts. I interpret the attribution column of the liner notes to say that Mozart wrote much of the second-act finale, and, while I am no musicologist, the segments of that finale seem to build in the way that a Mozart finale does. Still, if you listen to The Magic Flute only because of the grandeur of the music and are really put off by the plot, this singspiel will only annoy you further, since Mozart was using his considerable talents here simply in support of yet another bizarre fairy tale.

I would be a bit more generous to the singers than some of the other reviewers. I enjoyed listening to all the performances and felt that the characters, such as they were (there is a good deal of fairy and folk tale formula here), were brought to life successfully. The orchestra of authentic instruments under Martin Pearlman always sounds good to me. There were never any moments when I felt I was putting up with an inferior performance simply because it was the only performance available.