The A-Z of Mozart Opera
Natus cadit (Apollo et Hyacinthus) [5.37]
Amoretti, che ascosi qui siete (La finta semplice) [4.50]
Diggi, daggi, schurry, murry (Bastien und Bastienne) [1.29]
Se viver no degg'io (Mitridate, re di Ponto) [7.47]
Fra i pensier piu funesti (Lucio Silla) [3.13]
Geme la tortorella (La finta giardiniera) [4.42]
Viva l'invitto duce (Il re pastore) [6.26]
Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (Zaide) [5.59]
Andro ramingo e solo (Idomeneo) [6.00]
Konstanze... O wie angstlich (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) [4.37]
Se vuol ballare, signor Contino (Le nozze di Figaro) [3.12]
Vieni all finestra (Don Giovanni) [2.06]
Di scrivermi orni giorno (Cosi fan tutte) [2.32]
Ah perdona al primo affetto (La clemenza di Tito) [2.52]
Hm! hm! hm! hm! (Die Zauberflöte) [6.17]
Rebecca Bottone (soprano); Klara Ek (soprano); Martene Grimson (soprano); Susan Gritton (soprano); Anna Leese (soprano); Cora Burggraaf (mezzo-soprano); Jennifer Johnston (mezzo); Allan Clayton (tenor); Andrew Staples (tenor); Mark Stone (baritone); Matthew Rose (bass)
The Orchestra of Classical Opera/Ian Page
rec. 2007, St Jude on the Hill, London
SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD373 [67.47]
Let me make it very clear: I am probably not the right person to be reviewing
this disc unless there is a place for the views of a Mozart-lover who
is not enamoured of the latest period practices in performing his operas.
So if you do like this performance style, look away now and I apologise
for any incipient outrage or inconvenience my opinions might engender.
Its first release in 2007 passed me by; it was clearly intended as a kind
of pre-sampler for Classical Opera’s continuing series of Mozart
operas. Its re-release and the plaudits it drew from “Gramophone”
made me curious, especially as it was apparently show-casing the new generation
of Mozart singers and I am nothing if not a canary-fancier. Many of the
arias here will be unknown to the amateur Mozart lover and it is an attractive
gimmick to present 15 of them in chronological order, conveniently spanning
the gamut from “A” for “Apollo and Hyacinthus”,
written even before Mozart was a teenager, to, of course, “Z”
for ”Die Zauberflöte”. Much of this is indeed lovely
music which will be new to the casual listener.
However, this is a disc to expose the fault line between two entrenched
camps: those who have wholeheartedly embraced the supposedly “scholarly”
approach to performing Mozart and those who cling to an older tradition
– although the Historically Aware camp would claim that theirs is
in fact the elder child. I am one of those who prefer not to take his
medicine, so the moment I heard the whining, squeeze-box strings bulge
and swell their vibrato-free way through Mozart’s melodic line in
the opening track, I knew I was in for an aural struggle.
The performances here are decidedly intimate and small-scale; nothing
wrong with that and hardly a new idea. The eleven singers are young and
fresh, they are mostly hardly star-names but, again, who cares, as long
as they sing well?
I grew up listening to a host of great Mozart singers like Schwarzkopf,
Berganza, Baker, Ludwig, Te Kanawa, Cotrubas, Von Stade, della Casa, Burrows,
Simoneau, Wunderlich, Waechter, Berry, Siepi, Frick and Lloyd –
not to mention singers from a previous age who set standards which I cannot
suddenly eradicate from my aural memory when listening to these pale and
polite facsimiles of Mozart singing. Thus the moment I hear Allan Clayton’s
small, throaty, androgynous tenor paired with the shrill, edgy soprano
of Marlene Grimson in the lovely opening duet, I recoil. I am not much
impressed by Rachel Bottone’s sinew-less Italian diction with its
distorted vowels (as per the diphthong she introduces into “prego”
in the second track) and her squeezing of notes; I am find little pleasure
in soprano Anne Leese’s thin, windy tone; Andrew Staples’
tenor is of that nasal timbre with the cutting edge beloved of admirers
of singers such as Peter Schreier.
Singers here whom I find more impressive include the pretty-voiced Klara
Ek, whose vocal layout is reminiscent of Kathleen Battle and of course
Susan Gritton, who even back in 2007 was already a singer of some fame
and distinction, although she sounds a little cloudy here in “Ruhe
sanft” and I would prefer to hear Te Kanawa or Sills sing that most
sinuously elegant of arias. Mark Stone sings pleasantly with nary a hint
of erotic charm compared with previous famous exponents and most impressive
of all is the dark, elegant bass of Matthew Rose who sings Figaro’s
aria with the requisite sense of barely-suppressed menace. The quintet
from “Il re pastore” is decidedly proleptic of “Così”
and sung in lively, attractive fashion, although the tenors’ tight
tone obtrudes. The famous brief quintet from that latter opera passes
by innocuously in a manner not likely to erase memories of better versions.
If my response sounds sour and grudging, I can only say that there is
much very beautiful music here which will be new to many listeners –
at which point I would suggest acquiring more distinguished recordings
of that music.
This is another, legitimate way to play Mozart and was rapturously greeted
in some quarters; clearly some like it very much but I do not and you
will soon know if you do. It is a disc which reminds me why I could never
be a professional critic even if I had the expertise; I would not be able
to endorse the current performing orthodoxy.
Ralph Moore
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