The latest releases reviewed.

MOZART : DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE Soloists: Dorothea Roschmann, Erika Miklosa, Christoph Strehl, Rene Papa, Hanno Mueller-Brachmann. Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado Deutsche Grammophon 477 5789 *****

As we approach the end of his 250th anniversary year, it is fitting that the Mozart opera reviewed here should be Die Zauberflöte, one of the most sublime of all operatic masterpieces. It was written when Mozart was close to death, and it's as if the composer, tiring of the ordinary world where mortals dwell, uses a fantastical libretto to retreat into the fairytale world of the child. He robes the characters thus created with some of the most divine music ever written. From the opening overture, with themes that flutter like butterfly wings, to the final scene, where all misunderstandings and complications are overcome by the power of love, we are in the world of the fairytale. The wonderful performance on these discs - from an inspired cast conducted by Claudio Abbado, himself recovered from a near-death experience with cancer - brings out the full power and beauty of this masterpiece. www.universalclassics.com Colman Morrissey