Mozart: La clemenza di Tito / Sir Colin Davis

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Artist), Sir Colin Davis (Artist), Dame Janet Baker (Artist), Lucia Popp (Artist), Frederica von Stade (Artist), Yvonne Minton (Artist), Stuart Burrows (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000411P
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,333 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #28 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Von Stade, Frederica

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Ouverture

2. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. Recitativo. Ma che? sempre l'istesso

3. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. No. 1. Duetto. Come ti piace imponi

4. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. Recitativo. Amico, il passo affretta

5. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. No. 2. Aria. Deh se piacer mi vuoi / Chi ciecamente crede

6. La clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. Recitativo. Amico, ecco il momento / No. 3. Duettino. Deh prendi un dolce amplesso

7. La clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. No. 4. Marcia

8. La clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. No. 5. Coro. Serbate, oh Dei custodi / Recitativo. Te della patria il Padre / (No. 5. Coro

9. La clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. Recitativo. Adesso, oh Sesto, parla per me

10. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 1. No. 6. Aria. Del più sublime soglio

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. Recitativo. Sesto, come tu credi

2. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. No. 13. Aria. Torna di Tito a lato

3. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. Recitativo. Partir deggio, o restar? / Sesto! - Che chiedi?

4. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. No. 14. Terzetto. Se al volto mai ti senti

5. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. No. 15. Coro. Ah grazie si rendano

6. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. Recitativo. Già de' pubblici giuochi

7. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. No. 16. Aria. Tardi s'avvede

8. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. Recitativo. No, così scellerato

9. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. No. 17. Aria. Tu fosti tradito

10. La Clemenza di Tito, opera, K. 621: Act 2. Recitativo accompagnato. Che orror! che tradimento! / Recitativo. Ingrato!

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great ensemble makes for classic recording., February 12, 2000

By 

"daniel0302" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart: La clemenza di Tito / Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)

This classic recording -- in mid-price release --is the place to start for any music lover unfamiliar with this magnificent and underrated work.

Colin Davis shows his usual flare for Mozart as evidenced in his other Mozart operas on Philips. His cast is uniformly excellent; there is not a single week link or even questionable casting choice here. This is the most satisfying ensemble on any recorded performance currently available. Yvonne Minton sings magnificently as Sesto in an extraordinary performance, the young Frederica von Stade does equally fine work in the supporting role of Annio. Lucia Popp as Servilia is heartbreakingly exquisite; her rendition of "S'alto che lagrime" is so lovely one wants to immeadiately track back and hear it once more. The rest of the cast - Janet Baker, Stuart Burrows, Robert Lloyd - all contribute fine work and are unsurpassed by any other recorded portryal. Davis guides them all (and his orchestral and charol forces) through a committed, nuanced, and emotional performance, so that this work of love, intrigue, and forgiveness builds to the cathartic finale Mozart intended.

Converts to this opera will eventually want to own at least one of the more recent, full price recordings (Hogwood on L'Oiseau-Lyre, Harnoncourt on Teldec, Gardiner on DG Archiv). All of these recordings are quite fine in their own right and boast some fine performances - particularly Ruth Zeisak on Teldec, and Anna Sophie von Otter and Julia Varady on DG - but none of these ensembles can quite compete as a whole with the 6 singers assembled by Davis.

Any lover of Mozart's music sung by great singers should have this recording.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Glorious Recording of a Vastly Under-rated Work!, November 9, 2004

By 

gellio "gellio" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mozart: La clemenza di Tito / Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)

I was very surprised to see this recording get 1 star from the previous reviewer, because it is simply wonderful, and IMO the best of Davis' Mozart opera recordings. Dame Janet Baker sings Vitellia brilliantly, with glorious coloratura. She makes one believe in the development of her character, which is really ridiculous when you think about it, but we are talking about opera. Von Stade and Minton are superb as well, and Stuart Burrows is really amazing on this recording. There is not a single weak link and Davis' conducting really highlights this work, and proves to us that it is an excellent creation. Often over-looked and under-rated, if you buy this recording, you may realize (like I did) that 'La clemenza di Tito', while not on par with the DaPonte operas, is more of a masterpiece than 'Zauberflote'.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A noble yet vital reading, January 7, 2011

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mozart: La clemenza di Tito / Sir Colin Davis (Audio CD)

Reacquaintance with this 1977 recording reminded me how we once took such a mouth-watering cast for granted and yet conversely might still have thought it was somewhat wasted on an opera which was long considered second if not third-rate Mozart. I still do not think that it is the equal of his greatest works but it contains much grand, stately and also tender music, and when it is as well sung and vocally acted as it is here it emerges as dramatically convincing, too.

One might cavil at the fact that it we hear three quite similar mezzo-sopranos - castrati being unavailable and it being too early to permit the casting of a counter-tenor as Sesto, for which I am grateful - but they are differentiated by timbre and characterisation and just happen to be three of the most beautiful voices of the era in Janet Baker, Yvonne Minton and Frederica Von Stade. Baker is still in her vocal prime with a thrilling upper extension, scintillating coloratura and both the venom and regality to bring Vitellia alive as the wronged princess who believes that she is to be passed over. Just listen to her in no. 10, the Terzetto "Vengo...aspettate", complete with ringing top B's and real vocal fire; I recently compared this with Diana Damrau's version in my review of her Mozart recital album and I'm afraid it was very much to the latter's disadvantage. Minton, by comparison is more desperate and plangent but equally resplendent of voice, while Von Stade is youthful and touching in the supporting, minor role of Annio - how I love her voice with its flickering vibrato and intrinsically gorgeous tone.

As if all this were not enough, we are treated to a sonorous, sturdy Publio from Robert Lloyd, a silvery Servillia from Lucia Popp and, finally, a noble and touching, smoothly vocalised Tito from Stuart Burrows. His mildness and sweetness of tone are not out of place in his depiction of the clement Emperor.

Colin Davis brings lithe, taut direction to the score; nothing drags and the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus respond alertly and energetically. Obviously this is no period performance but there is absolutely nothing stodgy in its tempi or overblown in its textures.

Most people will not want more than one recording of this opera in their collection and will initially make a selection of either a HIP version or an earlier, more traditional performance. With its singing and playing this good and given that I have no special attachment to supposed historically informed practice per se, this set is my first choice.