Die Zauberflöte is the strangest of Mozart’s operas. On the one hand it’s a beguiling story of lovers in jeopardy, as transparent and enjoyable as any pantomime; on the other, it’s an opaque allegory that has occasioned more interpretative speculation than any opera outside the canon of Richard Wagner. Ultimately, the esoteric meaning is less important than the overt subject matter, which is conveyed through a consistently entertaining mix of popular tunes, high-art arias, solemn Gluck-like drama and bel canto display. The style veers rapidly from one extreme to the other, ranging from exalted opera seria to knockabout opera buffa. Within that range lies some of the finest vocal music Mozart ever produced, from heartfelt love songs, to outrageously silly exchanges and hair-raising coloratura dementia. For this Zurich Opera staging, designed by Philip Prowse, Jonathan Miller has set Mozart’s opera in the time of its creation: 1791, just after the French Revolution and the fall of the Bastille. It includes wonderful performances from a cast lead by Matti Salminen, Piotr Beczala, Elena Mosuc, and Julia Neumann.