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Mozart : Così fan tutte, K. 588 (Live)
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Opera - Released February 16, 2018 | Orfeo
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Mozart: Così fan tutte
René Jacobs
Classical - Released February 26, 1999 | harmonia mundi
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Mozart: Cosi fan tutte
Sir Colin Davis
Classical - Released October 26, 2010 | Opus Arte
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Mozart: Opera Arias
Pavol Breslik
Opera - Released September 9, 2016 | Orfeo
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Mozart: Così fan tutte (Highlights - Sung in German)
Otmar Suitner
Opera - Released January 1, 1970 | Eterna
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris
Reinoud Van Mechelen
Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles
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Maurice Yvain: Yes!
Les Frivolités Parisiennes
Classical - Released March 22, 2024 | Alpha Classics
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Mozart: Così fan tutte (Highlights)
Teodor Currentzis
Classical - Released October 9, 2015 | Sony Classical
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You may have heard about the radical Mozart performances coming out of the provincial city of Perm, Russia, led by conductor Teodor Currentzis. He's in the middle of a cycle of Mozart's operas with libretti by Lorenzo da Ponte, with a sure-to-be-explosive Don Giovanni yet to come as of late 2015. This single-album set of excerpts from Currentzis' reading of Così fan tutte has sold well out of the blocks, perhaps to listeners curious to hear what the fuss is about, but unwilling to invest in an entire box set. With only snatches of recitative and transition, you miss the outrageous continuo group of fortepiano, lute, cello/gamba, and, yes, hurdy-gurdy. That's a major omission, but all the other aspects of the full opera, and of Currentzis' gleeful disregard for convention, are amply represented. Consider the garish tempo contrasts, with the blistering overture pushed right up to the boundary of playability, while soon after that in Act One the trio "Soave sia il vento" is glacial. That number is one of the many places where it's apparent that soprano Simone Kermes, as Fiordiligi, is perhaps Currentzis' ideal collaborator, able to cope with extravagant musical demands, to deliver fresh characterizations, and generally to enter into the spirit of the thing and make you believe that maybe, just maybe, everybody will be performing Mozart this way in 30 years. In general the characterizations are strong and appealing; Currentzis may be a wild man, but he does not unduly draw attention to himself. And the work of his hand-built Musicaeterna, his historical-instruments group in Perm, is sharp as a tack here: it's an ensemble that can react to all of this conductor's demands. You may get a shock from this, but it's a good kind of shock, and the excerpt album can be generally recommended.© TiVo
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Cadmus & Hermione
Vincent Dumestre
Classical - Released May 1, 2021 | Château de Versailles Spectacles
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Jean-Baptiste Lully's Cadmus & Hermione of 1673 was arguably the first true French opera, telling a tragic story (Lully and his librettist Philippe Quinault called it a tragédie en lyrique), employing Italian-style recitatives, and collecting the varied music and dance forms of Louis XIV's opulent court into a coherent narrative that at once celebrated Louis (he is conflated with Cadmus of Thebes) and moved beyond the ceremonial nature of earlier French dramatic music. It's a sprawling work, with five acts, an overture, and a sizable Prologue with its own overture; highlights include a dragon that eats Africans, a monster snake, and a full complement of Greek gods and goddesses. Realization of the work has, until now, been beyond the means of early music performance groups, and this is the world premiere recording of the opera, made in 2019 and based on a 2008 performance at Versailles Palace by some of the same performers. The leader is Vincent Dumestre, conducting the Le Poème Harmonique orchestra and the vocal ensembles Aedes. The forces are large enough to capture the splendor of the music (thankfully, no one-voice-per-part techniques here), and Dumestre is alert to the huge variety of musical devices Lully brings to bear on his story; there are dances, big choruses, bagpipes, and much more. Cadmus & Hermione may be a difficult work to bring to life for modern audiences, but Dumestre keeps things moving along and probably comes as close as anyone could. Of course, anyone interested in the life of the French court in the 17th century will find this an essential acquisition that will keep giving and giving.
© TiVo
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Leclair: Scylla & Glaucus
Sébastien d'Hérin
Classical - Released November 27, 2015 | Alpha Classics
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Mozart Concertante
Aleksandra Kurzak
Opera - Released October 22, 2021 | Aparté
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The Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak needs no introduction. After having dazzled the opera stage and the discographic world both in duets and solo, she has devoted the whole of her new recording to Mozart. From The Magic Flute to Zaide, Mitridate and La Clemenza di Tito, the soprano embraces with equal talent the most famous arias of the master of Salzburg… and the verve of her concert presence. Far from limiting herself to just the lyrical attractiveness, she reveals its depth and brilliance by exploring the richness of the dialogue between voice and instruments: the brilliant musicians of the Morphing Chamber Orchestra of Vienna and Aleksandra Kurzak answer to each other, imitate and seek out each other. With them the arias of Mozart become the setting for a theatrical performance that is intimate, droll, and incredibly lively, in which the instruments have their own role to play in the unfolding drama. As an echo to this is added the Sinfonia concertante, for violin, viola and orchestra, one of the composer’s masterpieces in the genre, featuring the international soloists Yuuki Wong and Tomasz Wabnic. © Aparté
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Lully: Acis et Galatée, LWV 73
Jean-François Lombard
Opera - Released October 13, 2023 | Naxos
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Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper
Classical - Released January 1, 2016 | Orfeo
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Mozart: Idomeneo
Charles Mackerras
Classical - Released July 2, 2002 | Warner Classics
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Mozart: Così fan tutte, K. 588
Charles Mackerras
Classical - Released March 29, 1994 | Telarc
This recording of Così fan tutte was made when the cast was preparing for performances at the 1993 Edinburgh Festival, so the cast had the advantage of enough rehearsal time together to relax into the opera's humor. Their easy rapport is most evident in the spirited recitatives, which sparkle with spontaneity and wit. The fact that the principals are talented comedians makes their unforced interactions genuinely fun, and they sound like they are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Although they are not all international superstars, the performances are stellar. The soloists bring out the humanity and complexity of the opera, and artfully convey their characters' emotional development. It's hard to single out individuals for special praise, since each functions so integrally as part of the whole ensemble, and each is vocally and dramatically so effective. Felicity Lott and Marie McLaughlin are delightfully delineated as the sisters and they sing angelically; their "Ah, che tutta in un momento" is gorgeous. Nuccia Focile's Despina is lyrically playful. As the lovers, Jerry Hadley (in one of his finest recorded performances) and Alessandro Corbelli, and Gilles Cachemaille as Don Alfonso, are equally fine, and their ensembles crackle with testosterone-driven bravado. Charles Mackerras leads the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a light-footed and nimble reading. Although the instruments are modern (except for the fortepiano that accompanies the recitatives, and the timpani), Mackerras keeps the sound transparent and the tempos brisk. Teldec's sound is clean with a nice sense of intimacy.© TiVo
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Mozart: Piano Concertos Vol. 8
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
Concertos - Released October 6, 2023 | Chandos
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With this 2023 release, the cycle of Mozart's mature piano concertos by pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, with the Manchester Camerata under conductor Gabor Takács-Nagy, reaches its end. The series, with a modern piano but an economical approach that shows some influence from the historical performance movement, has found both critical and popular success, and this finale will not disappoint. Bavouzet is a technically clean pianist who can impress with the elegance of any given phrase, but what strikes the listener considering his Mozart work as a whole is the way he approaches each piece as an individual. His Mozart is entirely different from his Haydn, as revealed in a long series of fine piano sonata recordings, and he is very sensitive to the development of Mozart's style, capturing subtle interaction between piano and winds in the big middle-period concertos and backing off to a simpler melodicism in these late ones. In the Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537 ("Coronation"), he prepares his own version of the incompletely notated left-hand part, and he adds some light ornamentation to the rather bare, slow movement. Bavouzet's Mozart albums have included overtures from the period of the concertos involved, and here, one gets no fewer than three from the last three Mozart operas. Takács-Nagy integrates these with the concertos beautifully, and the program as a whole has a satisfying effect that brings to mind Mozart's remark about the connoisseurs and the amateurs; the album can be appreciated at multiple levels. Chandos' engineering work at the Stoller Hall in Manchester is once again exemplary. This release made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Atys
Christophe Rousset
Opera - Released January 5, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles
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Backed by the Sun King despite a lukewarm audience reception at first, Lully's Atys (1676) went on to become one of the composer's most successful operas, with revivals at French court theaters as late as 1753. In modern times, however, it is a considerably rarer item due to the massive forces and time required. Christophe Rousset was in the pit as harpsichordist when conductor William Christie gave the first modern revival of the work in the late '80s. That experience marks this 2024 release, which made classical best-seller lists at the beginning of that year. That is not common for a hefty five-act Baroque opera, but even a bit of sampling will confirm why it happened: Rousset, from the keyboard, brings tremendous energy to the opera. He pushes the tempo in the numerous dances and entrance numbers, and the musicians of Les Talens Lyriques and the singers of the Choeur du Chambre de Namur, all of whom have worked closely with Rousset in the past, keep right up. The singers in the solo roles are all fine; haut-contre Reinoud Van Mechelen in the title role and Ambroisine Bré as the goddess Cybèle, who sets the tragic plot in motion, are standouts. The sound from the increasingly engineering-expert Château de Versailles label is exceptionally clear in complex textures, and the sensuous cover art (representing, it is true, not the Roman mythological figure of Atys but Hippomène and Atalante) is a bonus. In the end, this is Rousset's Atys, and that is a very good thing.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Louise Bertin: Fausto
Les Talens Lyriques
Classical - Released January 26, 2024 | Bru Zane
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The classical best-seller charts are unfamiliar environs for the Palazzetto Bru Zane label, which specializes in forgotten 19th century opera. However, this release achieved best-seller status in early 2024, and this is absolutely no surprise, for Louise Bertin's Fausto is a remarkable work. One wonders how long it will take programmers to present it in a cycle with Berlioz's and Gounod's versions of the Faust tale (and perhaps Arrigo Boito's); the work is colorful in the extreme and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser even though it closed after three performances in 1831 and was shelved for the next 190 years. Perhaps the opera mixed so many influences that audiences just did not know what to make of it. Bertin, who was 25 when the work had its premiere in Paris, wrote the libretto herself in Italian. It has all the trappings of Rossinian opera -- fortepiano-accompanied recitative, aria, scena, preghiera, cavatina, big multi-part finales ending with a fast stretta -- but the effect of the music is completely different, and the settings stand up to the weighty aspect of the material. It is as if Weber had written a Faust opera, sometimes even as if Beethoven had written one. The role of Faust is sung by a mezzo-soprano, which is how Bertin wrote it, although a tenor version also exists. This results in intriguing equal-status duets between Karine Deshayes as Fausto and Karina Gauvin as Margarita. Conductor Christophe Rousset catches the ambition and the drama; his ensemble Les Talens Lyriques uses historical instruments but wisely bulks up to an adequate size for the work. Palazzetto Bru Zane, as usual, does the opera justice sonically with a studio recording. This is a remarkable release, not only for lovers of 19th century opera or those interested in music by women, but for anyone.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Parry: Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, Blest Pair of Sirens
London Mozart Players
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released September 8, 2023 | Chandos
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Hubert Parry's Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, from 1880, here receives its world-recorded premiere. Perhaps recording companies thought there wouldn't be much of a market for a heavy 19th century choral work with, it must be said, a ponderous text by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Prometheus was a play intended to be read, not performed, just to give an idea). How wrong they were. This release made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023, and it is altogether enjoyable. At the time, Parry was under the spell of Wagner, whom he traveled to Bayreuth to meet. That influence certainly shows up in Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, with its basically declamatory text, partly through-composed music, wind-and-brass-heavy orchestration, and splashes of chromaticism. Yet what is remarkable is that the music does not come off as an imitation of Wagner at all. Rather, it uses elements of his style to match a specific kind of English literary text. The work gradually disappeared, but it would be surprising if Elgar, whom it clearly prefigures, did not know it well. The performances here are luminous, with William Vann using the lighter-than-expected London Mozart Players to create transparent textures against which he can set the substantial voices of Sarah Fox, Sarah Connolly, and other soloists. Parry did write some shorter pieces that remain in the repertory; one of these, Blest Pair of Sirens, is included here as a finale. However, the Scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound are the main news here, and this performance, showing how this kind of thing should be done, may generate a new life for the work.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Haydn 2032, Vol. 2 : Il filosofo
Giovanni Antonini
Symphonies - Released April 20, 2015 | Alpha Classics
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The Alpha label's Haydn 2032 series, produced in collaboration with the Joseph Haydn Stiftung (or Foundation), may be optimistically conceived. It's hard to say in what form Haydn will be absorbed in 2032; a guess could be something like Neal Stephenson's Metaverse. Be that as it may, the series apparently will have a pair of organizing principles. The first is that individual programs will be loosely thematic rather than simply running in numerical sequence. Here, that idea doesn't work out so well. The title "Il Filosofo" or "Der Philosoph" for Haydn's Symphony No. 22 in E flat major, Hob. 1/22, seems not to have been Haydn's own and to have been derived later on from a superficially dialogue-like passage near the beginning. And it's hard to see how the other two Haydn symphonies on the album fit into the plan. But the news is better with the second principle, under which each album will combine several Haydn symphonies with one by another composer. Nobody has done this, and it works brilliantly here: the booklet expands on the notion of "originality," but the listener may well have already deduced that novelty is the reason for the rarely heard Symphony in F major for strings and continuo of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composed in Dresden the 1730s or 1740s. It's an earlier work, but in its spiky melodic lines and experimental treatment of register it's easy to imagine that the young Haydn might have heard it. More broadly, the concept reflects how music might have been heard by audiences in the 18th century, when it wasn't yet clear that Haydn would emerge as the great. One looks forward to the pairings in future releases in the series. The rather old-fashioned silvery sound of the historical-instrument Il Giardino Armonio under Giovanni Antonini is clear and accurate, and generally this promises to be a Haydn series with fresh ideas.© TiVo
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