Customer Reviews

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This version is one of those recordings that two kind of people buy: snobs and "Nozze di Figaro" hardcore fans.
Unfortunately the fans will be heavily disappointed. The singing is good, but sometimes the fiato of the singers is mediocre. Also the pronunciation (specially of the supporting characters) is very poor. I do not like Skhovus as the Count, sometimes he tries too hard to be funny and sometimes he is too harsh. Netrebko's Susanna is too dark and very little passion comes from her. D'Arcangelo Figaro can't match others such as Prey's or Terfel's.
The conducting... OH, MY! Harnoncourt reading of the score is quite uneven. Sometimes he's too slow (like in the Overture that must me thundering) and sometimes he's thundering (when Susanna comes out from the Countess' closet the music should be mellow and Harnoncourt feels that he's conducting the 1812 Overture).
Buy it only if you're a fan of Netrebko. It's perhaps the only time she'll sing "Le Nozze". Instead of this version, try Böhm's or Karajan's. I never thought that DG would release such a bad product. Stay away from this "Nozze", for real.

By the way, don't pay attention to the three stars I give to this awful product. It deserves one and a half, at most.

This is not your grandma's Figaro. At first I was surprised, then taken aback, then intrigued and then completely mesmerized. It's Figaro meets Psycho. The pacing is slower, more deliberate and the whole tone and atmosphere darker and more intense. And in the end, I think it works.

The whole theme of this production is the maddening, almost destructive power of Eros (here portrayed by an extraneous character- a seductive non -speaking/singing young man dressed in school boy uniform with cherubic wings running around trying to manipulate all the characters) locked in a battle with "Love." In the end "Love" triumphs. (except for poor Cherubino who throughout the opera is portrayed as a poor young thing totally defenseless against the power of Eros--in the end he's reduced to a zombie).

The singing and the technical quality, I thought, was first rate (It's a very recent production so it utilizes the latest in live sound recording..not like some of the older productions where the sound drifts when the singer moves in and out of microphone range).

I think if you are not familiar with the more standard productions of Figaro, you'll have a hard time with this production, both in following the plot and understanding all the new meanings and interpretations that are being created. But if you already have seen a number of standard productions, I'd thing you may enjoy this, if not just for its strangeness.(It's a very weird feeling to see/hear some of these very familiar numbers sung with a totally different context. Even the Recitativos have been turned on their head). I doubt this production will ever replace the more standard production, but it sure made for an unexpected and interesting evening of opera.

Very little goes right in this strange Le Noze di Figaro conducted by Harnoncourt. Hs there ever been a more perverse idea than ot deliberately tur Mozart's sparkling comedy nto a lumbering social drama? ONe always expects the unexpected from this conductor, but whereas his earlier round of Mozart operas for Teldec were aggressive and punchy, his new style is bizarrely slow and limp. From the overture are, tempos are at times almost twice as slow as the norm.

If that weren't bad enough, the two leads are dispiriting. D'Archangelo is a severe, harsh Figaro who blusters and shouts, and the slow pace of the action almost forces him to break up his melodi lines. As a vocal actor he's no better than stolid.

But the real disaster is Netrebko, whose darkened voice makes Susanna sound matronly -- she could easily be mistaken for the aged Marzellina. IN addition, like most Russian singers Netrebko is uncomfortable in Italian, and here, where the recitatives need to trip off the tongue with wit and confidence, she picks her way one syllable at a time. Of comic vivacity there is none.

In all, a near disaster for some very talented and renowned performers, all coming back to Harnoncourt's perversity.

I bought this recording on the promise of Roschmann's Countess. She does a nice job with the part. Her tone is strong and consistent throughout the range. Once I load all of her selections on my Ipod, I doubt I will listen to the complete recording ever again. Netrebko's voice is MUCH too heavy for Susanna. She sounds like a middle aged diva, not a young woman preparing to marry. Popp, Focile, Freni and even Battle do a much better job with the part on their respective recordings. The conducting....a mess. I am generaly lukewarm about Harncourt and his "ideas". This recording, however, just frustrated me. Tempos are slower than I've heard on any other recording. Sometimes, as in the 2nd Figaro-Susanna duet in Act I, the tempo slows to a halt in mid-piece. I appreciate what he's going for, but it drains the energy, joy and drama from this piece. A final word on Marie McLaughlin. If this represents the state of her natural voice and not a character voice, she has fallen considerably in the past decade. The only word that describes it is "strangled".
Giulini, Davis, Solti, Mackerras...there are many preferable and more affordable alternatives.

There are a host of stars in this latest version of Le Nozze di Figaro by good old Harnoncourt.
It retains his stamp of somberness and gravity, some thing to the dire distaste of many fans of this well-known opera.
If you are prepared to accept an alternative style of interpretation of this opera, this set can be made used of as a benchmark for modern operatic performance.
The cast is of course first rate, but nearly all the major protagonists, though they measure up to the previous standards set by singers like Siepi, Schwarzkopf, Janowitz, Popp, Berganza, Prey, Taddei, Te Kanawa, von Otter..., nowhere surpasses them, and once compared, the immediate result comes out.
The singing (this is a CD that's under review) is generally even, with a Count sung in great style, a Figaro that is very pleasing and secure, though not great, a very competent by young-sounding Countess and a some what miscast, overly sombre Susanna.
Dorothea Roeschmann earlier on sung Susanna under Harnoncourt (in Zurich?), and she sung outstandingly well in that recording, singing almost on par with her illustrious predecessors Popp, Gueden. As the Countess, she is still good, but again not really 'great' in the same level as Janowitz or Schwarzkopf. When this Countess sings together with Susanna the maid, the overall feeling is that this one sounds more like the maid, and the maid the Countess.
The reason is simple - it is undeniable by now that Anna Netrebko's timbre has grown much darker than her Kirov days. However you term her Susanna - smouldering, hazy, or whatever, once contrasted with Roeschmann's, the maid sounds much more like the sad and almost downcast mistress. While Netrebko's overall singing reigns over most (if not all) of the current Susannas (Ciofi and Hagley come to mind in the forefront), she lacks the sprightly nuance so essential to this character.
D'archangelo has a good baritone voice and sings very securely, but again, his Figaro is unexciting compared to Prey and Siepi.
If Harnoncourt targets at a 'serious version' of The Marriage of Figaro, he should perhaps engage Alexandrina Pandachanska as the Countess, whose big and sumptuous soprano may perhaps be able to throw a new contrast with Netrebko's sombre Susanna.