By James R. Oestreich [New York Times, 3 August 2009]
The problem in starting a concert with a familiar opera overture is that if the overture is performed persuasively, what you may want to hear next is the rest of the opera, not other, unrelated music. So after Edward Gardner and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra’s taut account of Mozart’s “Zauberflˆte” Overture at Avery Fisher Hall on Friday evening, you half-wanted Tamino to trip onto the stage with a monstrous snake in pursuit.