For more than two
decades Sir Charles Mackerras and opera-loving record buyers
shared a frustration. A scholar as well as a conductor he did
much to introduce the works of Janáček to the western world
via his seminal recordings on the Decca label. He had studied
in Czechoslovakia and imbibed that country’s musical idiom.
The recordings brought many awards to Decca. Ever the scholar,
Mackerras had also studied performing practice in Mozart’s time
and particularly in relation to the great master’s operas. He
worked with singers and, to critical acclaim, put his ideas
onto the stage as conductor. He was frustrated to be overlooked
when it came to recording opportunities; the various companies
preferred their contracted maestros, whether better suited to
Wagner or not. All was saved when Telarc came along with a series
of recordings in the 1990s. We can now clearly hear what Mackerras
had been on about for the previous twenty or more years. His
views concerned both orchestral tempi and the singers’ vocal
line ornamentation. The period instrument bands and their conductors
had already broken the tempo barrier but did not tackle the
matter of ornaments with any consistency.
In his Telarc series
of Mozart operas made in Edinburgh, Mackerras used period brass
with a small traditionally stringed orchestra. The present disc
offers a generous selection from the complete recording. It
contains all the major arias including those for the so-called
minor roles from act four. The cost of their inclusion is slight:
the omission of most introductory recitatives and typically
the likes of the orchestral introduction to the Countess’s cavatina
Porgi amor (tr. 10). Mackerras’s fleet and well-shaped
overture is included (tr. 1) and constitutes an excellent introduction
to an enjoyable disc.
Telarc have a reputation
as truthful recordists. There’s no multi-miking and doctoring.
Recorded in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh - the Athens of the north
- the project was done in association with performances at the
International Festival in that fine city. The recorded sound
is on the warm side with the voices set slightly back. Mackerras
might have missed some of the great Mozart singers of the 1970s
and 1980s but he had the happy knack of choosing fresh, often
young voices, who were able to adapt to his requirements and
give convincing portrayals. This is best evidenced in the female
soloists with one notable exception in the Countess of Carol
Vaness whose big voice hits the shallows as Mackerras slows
the tempi for Porgi amor (tr.10) leaving her legato in
its wake. She is much better in her act three recitative E
Sussana non vien and aria Dove sono (tr. 18)
where she inflects character and emotion before decorating the
vocal line with appoggiatura. As Susana Nuccia Focile sounds
young, but in an altogether appropriate way unlike Judith Halász
on the 2002 Naxos complete recording, the most recent I know
of (see review).
Likewise the Cherubino of Susanne Mentzer has a lovely, even,
creamy tone with clear enunciation and evident joy in her decorations
(trs. 7 and 11). As Barbarina, Rebecca Evans’ singing is a pleasure
(tr. 20). Light and characterful, her voice, like that of Nuccia
Focile has grown and developed; she takes Pamina on Mackerras’s
recent English language Magic Flute on Chandos. The other
side of the coin, as to age and experience, is the Marcellina
of Suzanne Murphy. I well remember travelling to hear her as
Norma and also Elvira in I Puritani with Welsh National
Opera in the 1980s. Here she uses her still flexible voice to
great effect to give a notable performance and characterisation
(tr. 21). The men are less impressive. Alastair Miles as Figaro,
so idiomatic in Verdi and the Italian bel canto repertoire,
doesn’t come over to me, seeming somewhat lacking in Italianata
and the relishing of the words (trs. 2 and 9). Alfonso Antoniozzi
as Bartolo is too light-voiced in his La vendetta (tr.
5) and also lacks bite. Alessandro Corbelli might be suave enough
to chat up the ladies but he really sounds far too nice for
the Count of this particular story.
The accompanying
booklet has an excellent essay on the background to the writing
of the opera. It’s by the renowned Mozart scholar H.C. Robbins
Landon. There is also a good synopsis that would have been greatly
improved by being track-related. These highlights allow the
listener to experience Mackerras’s fleet and consummate Mozart
conducting and also to hear the major arias of the work sung
in a form the composer would recognise. Those qualities alone
are worth the price.
Robert J Farr
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Figaro, Alastair
Miles (bass); Susanna, Nuccia Focile (sop); Count Almaviva, Alessandro
Corbelli (bar); Countess Almaviva, Carol Vaness (sop); Cherubino, Susanne
Mentzer (mezzo); Marcellina, Suzanne Murphy (sop); Basilio, Ryland Davies
(ten); Dr. Bartolo/Antonio, Alfonso Antoniozzi (bass); Barbarina, Rebecca
Evans (sop)
