Having seen this one, I'm glad it's so quickly out on DVD and deservedly so. Dorothea Roeschmann was gorgeous, what fulsomeness to her voice! Days after the recording, she and Keenlyside were to perform a recital at the Wigmore Hall - he couldn't make it, and she had to carry the programme as the replacement baritone wasn't very good. She seems to like singing mixed programmes and has given recitals with Goerne, Holzmair, Keenlyside and Bostridge. She's recorded the entire Myrthen with Bostridge on Hyperion, out this summer. (recommendation from me). Soon after Pamina, she sang the lead role in Nicholas Maw's Sophie's Choice. If anything has established her as star, this was it - she was singing nearly the full four hours and specially beautifully. Without her, I suspect the production might have dragged. Why was Keenylside at no show at the recital? At the performance after the DVD was recorded, he fell through a faulty trap door on stage, and needed extensive surgery to his arm. So treasure the DVD as a "moment in time". People forget, when scrapping over opera stars as they do in some circles, that they are human beings, and performance is no easy ride. It says a lot about Keenlyside's athlecticism (he was a Cambridge blue = sports star) that within months he was performing a dance interpretation of Winterreise to choreography by Trisha Brown. I didn't see the New York premiere, or the Amsterdam, or the Edinburgh but I did catch the belated London one, and it was very good indeed. Very intelligently done, and sensitively performed. And isn't the Papagena a scream! In contrast to the ethereal Queen and Pamina, this was a hilarious dose of down to earth humour! There is cultural baggage to the portrayal, she's an "Essex girl" caricature. What's the translation? Trailer Park Princess? But in a nice way. Anne [log in to unmask]