Mozart "The Abduction From The Seraglio"

Zurich Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Harnoncourt

Kenny/Salminen/Schreier/Watson Teldec, 0630-10025-2 (2 CDs, 135 mins)

Dial-a-track code 1421

Somehow this opera has never made it into the Mozart Premier League well, it's a particularly goofy title, isn't it, and then there's all that jingly jangly Turkish nonsense and a harem into the bargain, for goodness sake. Letting Nikolaus Harnoncourt loose on Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail is a bit like setting Quentin Tarantino on P.G. Wode house sudden gusts of darkness cast, pools of shadow over its sunny surface passages which are usually played for laughs develop ominous undertones.

It is obvious from the very opening of the overture, when the delicate introductory string phrase is answered by a vicious, scarifying sweep of drums and bells, that Harnoncourt is taking this opera very seriously indeed. There are laughs too, of course, but uneasy ones the agonising ambiguity of Don Giovanni is not, after all, so very far away. The cast plays its collective part, with gusto, with Peter Schreier a stylish Belmonte and Matti Salminen shining like a beacon as the villainous harem keeper Osmin.

Mozart "Cosi Fan Tutte"

Chamber Orchestra of Europe/London Voices/Solti

Fleming/Von Otter/Lopardo/Bar Decca, 444 174-2 (2 CDs, 179 mins) Dial-a-track code 1531

On this recording Sir Georg Solti caresses the voluptuous lines of Mozart's most seductive score with an almost Romantic intensity, aided and abetted by his outstanding central quartet of soloists, Renee Fleming, Anne Sophie Von Otter, Frank Lopardo and Olaf Bar. Cosi is also, of course, Mozart's cruellest stage work, Solti doesn't confront the cruelty head on, but allows it to emerge naturally from the dramatic exchanges, especially the extraordinary Act One finale in which the men, disguised as Albanians are supposed to be dying of arsenic poisoning, while the women are urged to show, a little "compassion by the cynical Despina (the bird like Adelina Scarabelli) and the appalling Alfenso (Michele Petrusi, a young Italian bass of whom we shall, with any luck, hear a great deal more) Imperceptibly but irrevocably, Solti tightens the screw until the tension becomes unbearable but the real miracle of this set is that that level of intensity is sustained throughout with out doing the slightest damage to the opera's exquisite lyrical moments.

Mozart "Ascanio In Alba"

Concerto Armonico/Sorbonne University Choir/Grimbert

Chance/Feldman/Windsor

Naxos, 8.660040-1 (2 CDs, 160 mins) Dial-a-track code 1641

For those who already have half a dozen recordings of each of Mozarts' mature masterpieces and are desperately seeking pastures new, how about this little ditty, which the 14 year old composer dashed off in just over a month for an Austrian royal wedding in 1771? Of course, even its sky high "Janey Mac" factor can't disguise the tediousness of its plot, the shallowness of its characterisation or the absence" of dramatic tension from its succession of opera seria look alike set pieces. So why buy it? Well, because it's there, for a start and because when it breaks free of its stifling Baroque conventions, Aseanio In Alba shows tantalising glimpses of the glories to come.

Mozart "Die Zauberflote"

Les Arts Florissants/Christie

Mannion/Blochwitz/Scharinger

Erato, 0630-12705-2 (2 CDs, 150 mins)

Dial-a-track code 1751

William Christie's period instrument ensemble was, according to an introductory note, once described by a disgruntled critic as a bunch of ayatollahs and vegetarians It was, as he quite rightly points out, an absurd thing to say but it serves to illustrate the radical nature of Christie's approach to The Magic Flute, which he intended to be a "sort of riposte" to other available recordings. This is not the square, solid Magic Flute of old, but a kinder, gentler affair altogether, with singers allowed to interpolate ornaments in unheard of places and huge variations in tempi. Initial scepticism that this might be a matter of change for the sake of it was swiftly dispelled by the meticulous detail, the exuberance and the sheer musicality of the set. Buy it. It's magic.