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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pyrotechnics of the highest order, December 1, 2000
This review is from: Mozart - Mitridate / Bartoli, Dessay, Sabbatini, Asawa, Piau, Flórez, Les talens lyriques, Rousset (Audio CD)
Mitridate was composed by the teenage Mozart to the set libretto of an opera seria -- and not really a very good libretto. The result is a series of recitatives followed by arias as specified by the usual formula. It is varied only by having a lengthy duet at the end of act two and a shorter quintet at the end of the final act. Generally speaking, the music is brilliant without being profound. It probably isn't possible to breath much life into the drama; what is possible is to provide a brilliant and varied series of arias. This the production under consideration provides brilliantly. The star of this production is Natalie Dessay, who again demonstrates her ability to steal the show through stunningly brilliant singing and a marvelous voice. Her performance is equaled in technical virtuosity and quality of voice (but not surpassed) by Cecilia Bartoli, though her role lies in spots uncomfortably high for that wondrous instrument. The highlight of the production is the duet mentioned earlier which involves these two performers. Sandrine Piau in a smaller role provides singing of almost equal stature. Brian Asawa, in the role of Mitridate's traitorous older son, provides an amazing display of technique and agility, but he hardly sounds convincing. He actually sounds more like a drag queen with full command of falsetto than like a man - or a woman. Giuseppe Sabbatini I found to be the only disappointment, singing the title role adequately but with a rather unlovely tone. The period-instrument orchestra performs brilliantly. However, I found that Christophe Rousset let the recitatives drag badly, while some of the arias, especially Bartoli's, were rushed. She can handle the pace without problem - her clearly articulated fioriture has to be heard to be believed -- but she has no way to plumb the musical depths of these brilliantly conceived show-pieces when the pace is so rushed. All together, an excellent set!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Expected better from such a starry cast, June 3, 2006
This review is from: Mozart - Mitridate / Bartoli, Dessay, Sabbatini, Asawa, Piau, Flórez, Les talens lyriques, Rousset (Audio CD)
I agree with Skylim's assessment. This is an opera seria filled with wonderful arias. The thing to guard against in such a work is for the singers to take arias out of context and sing them like they might in a concert. That's precisely what happened with this production. No sense of where the story is going at all. Just a string of beautifully sung arias. Good for concert performance. Disastrous for a full opera disc! All the singers are top-notch. Wonderful voices with wonderful techniques... and singing beautifully all the time. Even when it is wrong to sing beautifully. Pieces like Farnace's Act I aria, 'Venga pur, minacci e frema' are supposed to be menacing and not pretty! And Asawa (Gosh! I love his voice!!!) is anything BUT menacing. Better get Kasarova's Mozart Aria disc and see how this piece is supposed to sound like. Farnace is supposed to be in a towering cold rage and spewing venom here. A lot of that going around in this recording. And Rousset set strange tempo for many arias. Some of Sifare(Bartoli)'s were too fast, and most of Farnace(Asawa)'s were too slow. Oh how draggy can 'Gia dagli occhi il velo' get? If it was any slower it would be going backward! That slow a tempo could work if the singer infects it with nuance and emotion... unfortunately neither the conductor nor the singer delivered and the aria screams for itself to be fast-forwarded after 15 seconds... if you're patient. Seems to me only Piau (Ismene) and Dessay (Aspasia) turned in something that does Mozart justice. Juan Diego Florez is the minor character Marzio, and he is fine there. For all 3 CDs at this price.... I regret buying the thing. The booklet contains the story of how Mozart came to write the opera, synopsis, short bio of the cast (all in English only), and libretto in English and Italian.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, May 15, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Mozart - Mitridate / Bartoli, Dessay, Sabbatini, Asawa, Piau, Flórez, Les talens lyriques, Rousset (Audio CD)
The star of the cast in this recording is no doubt the French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay - she tackles the fiendish pieces with bravura and delicacy which is rare. Cecilia Bartoli is convincing in the role of Sifare although she sounds a bit strained in some of the arias which is in the range normally negotiated by sopranos. Brian Asawa with his mezzoish tone as Farnace and Sandrian Piau as Ismene make this set a delight. The only drawback is the title role which was coarsely sung and with sluggish coloratura. An overall enjoyable recording with excellent support from Les Talens Lyriques.
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