Customer Reviews

Great Recordings Of The Century - Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte / Karajan, Schwarzkopf, Merriman, Otto, Simoneau, et al

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Karajan's Cosi has always shared the limelight with Bohm's as one the the legendary classics of the opera. Both share the Fiordiligi of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who sings one of the pillars of her repertoire. Her reading, infused with insight and style, cannot help but be attractive. Nan Merriman as Dorabella serves as a foil to Schwarzkopf's mannered singing. We have the best Ferrando on record, Leopold Simoneau. His ardent and passioned singing is of an era gone by. Rolando Panerai serves up a tidy Non siate ritrosi and Donne mie. Lisa Otto and Sesto Bruscantini complete the cast as the truly buffo characters of Despina and Don Alfonso. Karajan leads the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus in a perfomance that sparkles. The only reservation and shortcoming is that of the viciously cut recitatives. We would have to turn to others for a complete Cosi, and my recommendation would be Davis' on Philips.

Mozart's great music, and Da Ponte's superb libretto and chessboard plotting, result in "Cosi fan tutte" being rather too much of a good thing for one night's entertainment, especially when seen for the umpteenth time. Happily the opera has fared well on record, enabling music lovers to enjoy it at liesure at home.

This 1954 recording, produced by Walter Legge, was the third "complete" recording of the opera to be released. Perhaps because of the exigencies of accommodating it onto LP records, some of the secco recitatives were cut, leaving a running time of eight or nine minutes under full length. Although a monaural recording made nearly fifty years ago, it is still one of the two top recommended versions in the "Penguin Guide to Compact Discs".

Karajan, prior to his Berlin Philharmonic days, provides well-judged direction, broadening tempi sometimes in his inimitable way, such as in the Act 1 march, but preserving a light touch elsewhere, especially during the asides offered by Despina and Alfonso. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's Fiordiligi is a woman with enormous depths and subtleties of character. The singer's famous ability to color her voice is nowhere more apparent than here, her first attempt at singing this part. Perhaps this Fiordiligi is too intelligent, too sensitive. Listening to Schwarzkopf's Fiordiligi, perhaps you doubt that this character could ever be fooled by into believing her maid Despina, heavily disguised in costume and voice, was a medico and then a notary.

Blending well with Schwarzkopf in the role of Dorabella is the American mezzo Nan Merriman, already in 1954 a noted singer in this part. As Despina, Lisa Otto sings her arias neatly and enjoys herself impersonating Signor Dottore and Il Notaio. None better, perhaps before or since, has been heard in the part of Ferrando than the French-Canadian tenor Leopold Simoneau. Rolando Panerai, as the baritone who never gets much solo work to do, makes the most of his three-minute "Donne mie". Sesto Bruscantini, who rarely delivered an imperfect performance or recording, is a lighter-voiced and more interesting than most Don Alfonso.

This is a "Cosi" that will not disappoint those who wish to hear the opera repeatedly and who accept that good monaural sound can offer in its own way as much enjoyment as good black and white photography. My copy has an Italian only libretto included.

I have lived for years with the Bohm recording as my favourite "Cosi", always with a sideways longing glance towards the neglected Lombard set on Erato (see my review), but the latter really is too languorous at times - and that might be what you would expect of Karajan, too, but you would be wrong. He starts pacy and sprightly and so it continues, never rushed but beautifully pointed and taut - whereas Bohm can sometimes lack subtlety. So my recent re-acquaintance with this set has made me question my loyalty to Bohm. At first, one wonders whether some of the singing and playing might be a little understated; everything is so subtly and delicately underscored without any hint of vulgarity - and of course, the orchestral playing is of the highest quality, the Philharmonia of this period comprising some of the greatest wind players of their era, including Denis Brain on horn. If you like your Mozart on period instruments rattled off at breakneck speed, this recording is not for you, but I must emphasise that there is no lack of pace or tension in this performance. All the soloists have exceptionally fleet, light, sweet voices with that old-fashioned, quick, flickering vibrato now out of fashion and they are masters of the text. Bruscantini is much lighter of voice than the Don Alfonsos to which we have become accustomed today and his is a beautifully shaded, cynical yet affectionate, characterisation. I am not always fond of Schwarzkopf, but here she is in freshest, purest voice, largely free of mannerisms and even better than ten years later with Bohm. Merriman is a perfect foil, with her warm, vibrant mezzo, and Simoneau is simply the best Ferrando on record. Panerai provides wonderful support, and even though I still marginally prefer the perfect Steffek as Despina in the later set, Otto is pert, pretty and funny.

The mono sound is clean and forward without distortion. However, the alternative Naxos issue is even cheaper than this "Great Recordings of the Century" version on EMI and I cannot imagine that the EMI is any better re-mastered - and you have a bonus selection of Schwarzkopf arias to boot. So go for the Naxos and enjoy a connoisseur's performance of some of the most sublime music ever written.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of listening to three very fine recordings of Cosi fan tutte, each of them beautiful and each of them very different.

Capsule comments below:

Karajan: This 1954 recording is one of the most famous made, justifiably so. Much faster than the Harnoncourt, it presents Cosi as a witty, fleet comic opera. The cast is great, led by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Fiordiligi), who ranges from the very good to the electrifying (check out the duet Fra gliu amplessi, in the 2nd act, where Fiordiligi relents and capitulates) and a Don Alfonso, Sesta Bruscantini, who sings with flexibility and expression. The finales are often amazing, performed with spirit and accurate ensemble. Let's get to the weeknesses: 1) the sound - the recording is from 1954, so it doesn't have the detail or the refinement of modern recordings; 2) I found Nan Merriman (Dorabella) to be the least impressive singer in any of these three sets, with rhythmic and pitch issues as well as IMO an unattractive, rounded voice. But the strengths here overwhelm any flaws. I'll highlight the incredible Act 1 ensemble about the wind ("Soave sia il vente"), luscious and graceful. You'll want to play that track again and again.

Harnoncourt: I am not normally a fan of Harnoncourt but this is a wonderful set, with excellent singing and orchestra playing and luscious state-of-the-art recorded sound. Harnoncourt takes a slow and sensuous approach to Cosi with a lot of attention to the polyphonic layers in the music. This results in certain numbers that any Mozart fan needs to hear, including the whisper-soft quintet "Di scrivermi" (Act 1) and the complex aria "Donne Mie" (Act 2), played at maybe 2/3 the speed of normal renditions, which unpacks its intricate orchestral writing. All three of these recordings feature excellent Fiordiligis - here it is Charlotte Margiono, who has a more full-bodied voice than Schwarzkopf or Isokoski, but is completely up-to-the-task and matches the better-known sopranos. The orchestra plays in what I would described as "historically-influenced" style, with little strong vibrato and a very small lower strings section. Harnoncourt's approach has some weaknesses - the two finale sequences don't have the grace and flow you hear in the other CDs, for example - but this a strongly-recommended set. (I am baffled by the pans below.)

Kuijken: This is a historically-informed recording (tries to adhere to performance practice from 1790) from a live 1992 concert performance in Hungary. I think of Sigismund Kuijken as a conductor who generally has a sensuous take, but this is not the case here in a very active rendition with the quickest tempi of the three, even faster than the Karajan. The singing is excellent, with the star Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski sparkling as Fiordiligi. Highlights include her military-style aria "Come scoglio" (Act 1), which is famous and I think was notably better than the versions in the other sets discussed here, and the finales, which are sparkling and expertly paced and sung. (They brought a smile to my face each time I listened to them.) The other cast members are strong. Good performance. The problem here is the audio, which I actually found more grating than the 1954 Karajan set - it is "early digital" so has some harsh treble. The miking is also strange - the singers are very much highlighted, with the strings in the middle ground and the winds very much in the background. Still, a very nice performance with a lot to recommend it.

All in all, three wonderful sets of a beautiful, major opera, with a silly plot (but not a silly theme) and a very complex musical score which shows Wolfgang at the peak of his ability. I didn't listen to the famous later Schwarzkopf recording with Karl Bohm, a conductor in whom I have no interest, so the survey is incomplete.