I wouldn’t know how to answer the question “What is the best recording of The Magic Flute?” because there are so many of them. I’d say that the one I like the best is from Vienna of the 1950′s with Hilde Güden, Wilma Lipp, Léopold Simoneau, and Walter Berry, conducted by Karl Böhm. It does not contain the dialogue, but that is a plus in my opinion since I am not interested in hearing the dialogue when I listen to a recording. The Double Decca recording comes at a good price, but without a libretto.