Soloists: Daniel Behle, Marlis Petersen, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sunhae Im, Anna-Kristina Kaapola, Marcus Fink. RIAS Kammerchor. Akademie für Alte Musik, Berlin. Conductor: Rene Jacobs  Harmonia Mundi HMC 902068.70* * * *

Zauberflötemay not be Mozart's most powerful opera but it is certainly his most enchanting. The libretto and characters seem to come from the world of pantomime, as if the composer, nearing the end of his life, had begun withdrawing into the fantastical world of childhood. The music is sometimes childlike but always sublime, making the preposterous seem reasonable and the ridiculous appear beautiful and moving. This recording, the sixth in Rene Jacobs's Mozart cycle with period instruments, is well upto the high standards set earlier in this series, with a finely balanced cast of young singers working within a structure that illuminates the profundity of the score. See harmoniamundi.com