Customer Reviews

Mozart: Così fan tutte

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This recording of Cosi Fan Tutte is perhaps my favorite amongst the period recordings of the opera. The solists, including Veronique Gens are wonderful, the orchestra of Concerto Koln puts on a tight and clean sounding performance. I own this, along with Figaro and Clemenza di Tito recordings of Rene Jacobs (amongst many others) and find his recordings to be some of the best, if not the best for clarity, accuracy, musicality and musicological value. I would recommend this recording to any Mozart opera fan or fan of period performance recordings.

Rene Jacob's series of mature Mozart operas has produced recordings that cry out for attention in a very crowded market place. This recording did not receive the accolades of the Figaro set, but it is a delight. While the singing is awlays good it is Jacobs who breathes life into the recording by a combination of attention to detail and historical perspective with a wonderful sense of dramatic pacing and understanding of musical structure.

A sense of freshness is achieved through a variety of methods: the use of the forte piano playing with the orchestra, the dramatic flair of the recitatives, tasteful embellishments and the beguiling sound of the period orchestra. Unusally for a historical instruments recording, Jacobs really wallows in sensuously languid tempi in the delicious slow ensembles. He is not afraid to enjoy the beauty of the music and Gens has the most creamy soprano tone to allow this to work. Her voice contains an ideal combination of strength with emotional vulnerability for this role. Both her great arias are thrilling. The ensemble finales truly fizz.

Jacobs recordings always feature star quality voices who are able to act brilliantly and adapt to his musical vision. Fink is an exciting and volatile Dorabella and Spagnoli, as always, provides his combination of humour and virility. If there is any weakness it is the singing of the tenor Werner Gura (Werner is such a tenor name isn't it?). While always sensitive and musical with his phrasing the voice itself is light and fails to convery the emotional punch in the aria and the duets with the ample toned Gens.

The recorded sound is outstanding, capturing the delicacy of the writing (especially the woodwinds)but also having a great sense of warmth. This is a perfect addition to your collection of Cosis, complementing the more stately and perhaps graceful older recordings of Bohm and Karajan. It is also a great place to start. The packaging in this release is truly sumptuous.