Magdalena
Kožená is still listed as mezzo-soprano on this disc but she
is, it seems moving more and more into the soprano repertoire.
Her timbre has become lighter, more soprano-ish since her
auspicious debut a handful of years ago with that delightful
song recital with Dvořák, Janacek and Martinu (see review).
Listening again to that disc confirms my memory – even though
the difference is marginal. What has not changed at all, however,
is the beauty of tone, the delicate phrasing and her outstanding
technical accomplishment.
The
programme on this delectable disc is drawn from both what
is generally regarded as mezzo and soprano repertoire. She
executes all of it with her accustomed style and elegance.
Not that the division in voice types was that clear in Mozart’s
time as it gradually became during the romantic period and
many sopranos – or mezzos – have moved between the roles in
the same opera during their careers. Starting as Cherubino
in Le nozze di Figaro and then becoming Susanna before
with advanced age graduating to Contessa is not that uncommon.
Kožená thinks, and rightly so, that the Countess is too early
for her, even though the role should be well within her scope.
Her somewhat older colleague Andrea Rost, on a Mozart recital
that I reviewed about a year and a half ago (see review),
sang all three of them and also included Barbarina and Marcellina
for good measure. Kožená on her side sings all three female
parts from Cosě fan tutte, and differentiates well
between them.
As
I have already intimated the quality of the singing is a joy
from beginning to end. Sir Simon’s longstanding acquaintance
with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment guarantees
accompaniments of the highest calibre with well sprung rhythms
and homogenous sound. Jos van Immerseel’s fortepiano adds
its brittle colours to the orchestral web, most exposed in
the long aria written for Nancy Storace’s farewell concert
in 1787 (tr. 3).
It’s
always a pleasure to hear the old favourite arias well sung
and there are a good handful of them here. There are also
some that are not so frequently heard, among them a couple
of inserts for other composers’ operas. Even more odd than
those is the heavily embellished version of Cherubino’s Voi
che sapete, the ornamentation not by Mozart’s hand but
by Domenico Corri. Corri was born in Rome in 1746, moved to
Edinburgh at the age of 25 and later to London, where he published
a guide on “how singers should decorate their lines in order
to ‘improve’ their expressive potential”. Whether the decorations
imply an improvement is debatable, what they definitely do
is to change the character of the role. Cherubino is also
in Mozart’s original a restless teenager graphically depicted
in Non so piů cosa son, cosa faccio. He may “sigh and
groan” and “flutter and tremble” in Voi che sapete
but the simple unadorned melody of this arietta also shows
a more concentrated, more mature, more determined young man
behind the one who doesn’t know what he is doing. Figaro comments
on his restlessness at the end of act one when calling him
farfallone (little butterfly) in his aria. Had he heard
signore Corri’s decoration he might instead have named him
colibri. It is interesting and entertaining to hear
these amendments for once and it is skilfully done but I would
have liked her to include also an unadorned version, just
to show its superiority.
Susanna’s
lovely fourth act aria opens the recital, deliciously sung,
but as the final number we are also treated to the replacement
aria he wrote for Adriana Ferrarese in 1789. The recitative
is the same but the new aria is much more overt and, just
as the embellishments of Voi che sapete, present Susanna
in a different light, still lovely but harder, more capricious.
Probably the singer wasn’t capable of expressing the warmth
a good Susanna should have. He wrote to his wife: “I believe
the little aria /Un moto di gioia/ I have made for
Ferrarese will please, if she is capable of singing it in
an artless manner, which I very much doubt.” That little aria,
which Kožená doesn’t sing, is included in the Mozart recital
with Miah Persson (see review),
also providing the title for that disc. I recommend readers
to try that one as well. Kožená sings her aria with
aplomb and it is doubtless interesting to have this version
at hand, just to realise how right the “real” Susanna aria
is. Besides the quite intricate embellishments there is also
some interesting colouring of the orchestra through the basset-horns
which provide a slightly sombre backdrop. Of course Susanna
isn’t in the happiest of states here.
On
the recent complete recording of La clemenza di Tito
under Mackerras (see review)
Kožená was Sesto. She gave a wonderful reading of that part.
Here she instead essays Vitellia’s big set-piece, the one
with the basset-horn obbligato. This rondo-aria is notoriously
difficult with its wide range, reaching well down into the
soprano basement. On the complete recording Hillevi Martinpelto
sang it splendidly but she had some trouble with the lowest
notes. Interestingly enough – and that was also something
that made me think she is moving towards the soprano department
– Kožená has no problems with the top but she is no more successful
than Martinpelto with the lower ones. The Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment are tuned at A=430 Hz, which in effect
lowers the tessitura a half-tone.
There
have been a lot of good Mozart recordings this year, both complete
operas and recitals, both new products and reissues. The last
few months I have already waxed lyrical about Miah Persson and
Bryn Terfel. Next in my review pile is still another DG disc with
several important singers, topped by newest soprano star Anna
Netrebko. The present disc with Kožená also belongs in this not-to-be-missed
category. Being a Mozart enthusiast in the operatic field this
year involves deep incisions in the bank account.
Göran Forsling
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Magdalena
Kožená (mezzo) 
