Der Liebe himmlisches Gefühl, KV
199 (1)
Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, KV 418 (1)
Cara, se le mie pene, KV deest (1)
Se tutti i mali miei, KV 83 (1)
Alcandro, lo confesso...Non so d’onde
viene, KV 294 (1)
Se ardire, e speranza, KV 82 (1)
Ah, spiegardi, oh Dio, KV 178 (1)
Ch’io mi scordi di te...Non temer, amato
bene, KV505 (2)
Alma grande e nobil core, KV 578 (2)
A questo seno...Or che il cielo KV 374
(2)
Basta vincesti…Ah, no lasciarmi KV 486a
(295a) (2)
Al desio, di chi t’adora KV 577 (2)
Conservati fedele, KV 23 (2)
Voi avete un cor fedle, KV 217 (2)
Misero mi…Misero pargoletto, KV 77 (2)
Nehmt menen Dank, KV 383 (2)
Va, dal furor portata KV 21 (19c) (3)
Or che il dover…Tali e contanti sono,
KV 36 (33i) (3)
Si mostra la sorte, KV 209 (3)
Con ossequio, con rispetto, KV 210 (3)
Clarice cara mia sposa, KV 256 (3)
Se al labbro mio no credi, KV 295 (3)
Per pieta, non ricercate, KV 420 (3)
Misero! o sogno…Aura, ceh intorno spiri
KV 431 (3)
Io ti lascio, KV Anh 245 (4)
Così dunque tradisci…Aspri rimorsi
atroci, KV 432 (421a) (6)
Dite almeno in che mancai, KV 479 (6)
Mandina amabile, KV 480 (4)
Alcandro, lo confesso…Non sò,
d’onde viene, KV 512 (4)
Mentre ti lascio, KV 513 (4)
Ich möchte wohl den Kaiser sein,
KV 539 (4)
Un bacio di mano, KV 541 (4)
Per questa bella mano, KV 612 (4)
Popoli di Tessaglia KV 316 (5)
Ah se in ciel, benigne stele, KV 538
(7)
Chi sa, chi sa, qual sia, KV 581 (7)
Vado, ma dove? Oh Dei! KV 583 (7)
Chi’io mi scordi di te, KV 490 (7)
Per pieta, bell’idol mio KV 78 (7)
Oh, temeraria Arbace KV 79 (7)
Bella mia fiamma, addio .. Resta, oh
cara, KV 528 (7)
Ah, lo previdi KV 272 (7)
Misera, dove son KV 369 (7)
Mia speranza adorata! – Ah, non sai,
qual pena sia il doverti, KV 416 (8)
Non curo l’affetto, KV 74b (8)
Fra cento affanni, KV 88 (8)
A Berenice – Sol nascente KV 70 (8)
Ma, che vi fece, o stelle KV 368 (8)
No, no, che non sei capace, KV 419 (8)
An die Freude, KV 53 (9)
Auf die feierliche Johannisloge, KV
148 (9)
Dans un bois solitaire, KV 308 (9)
Die Zufriedenheit, KV 349 (9)
Sei du mein Trost, KV 391 (9)
Lied zur Gesellenreise, KV 468 (9)
Die Zufriedenheit, KV 473 (9)
Die betrogene Welt, KV 474 (9)
Lied der Freiheit, KV 506 (9)
Zwei deutsche Kirchenlieder, KV 343
(9)
Die Verschweigung, KV 518 (9)
Das Lied der Trennung, KV 519 (9)
Abendempfindung an Laura, KV 523 (9)
An Chloe, KV 524 (9)
Das Traumbild, KV 530 (9)
Lied beim Auszug in das Feld, KV 552
(9)
Oiseaux, si tous les ans, KV 307 (10)
Dans un bois solitaire, KV 308 (10)
Wie unglücklich bin ich nit, KV
147 (10)
Ich wurd’ auf meinem Pfad, KV 390 (10)
Verdankt sei es dem Glanz der GroBen,
KV 392 (10)
Der Zauberer, KV 472 (10)
Das Veilchen, KV 476 (10)
Die Alte, KV 517 (10)
Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen
Liebhabers verbrannte, KV 520 (10)
Abendempfindung an Laura, KV 523 (10)
Des kleinen Friedrichs Geburtstag, KV
529 (10)
Die kleine Spinnerin, KV 531 (10)
Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge, KV
596 (10)
Der Frühling, KV 597 (10)
Das Kinderspiel, KV 598 (10)
Ridente la calma, KV 152 (10)
Calling this set from
Brilliant’s Mozart Edition, ‘Concert
Arias’, is perhaps a little misleading.
Some of the arias were written for concert
use, but many of them were written as
additions or replacement arias for operas
by other composers. A standard practice
in the 18th century was for
a local composer to customise operatic
revivals to suit the particular cast.
Brilliant have eschewed
historical ordering and each disc consists
of a mixed recital by a different artist.
One of the charms of listening to these
extra arias is our ability learn more
about the singers that Mozart worked
with. Many of the items were written
for particular singers who are known
to us for their work in one of Mozart’s
major works, so providing us with an
extra glimpse of Mozart’s view of their
voice. A special case is his sister-in-law
Aloysia Weber (Aloysia Lange after her
marriage). Mozart wrote a substantial
number of pieces for this highly gifted
singer and they thread their way throughout
the first six discs of this set, providing
a fascinating challenge to each of the
singers.
The first disc is sung
by soprano Francine van der Heyden.
She has a smallish bright voice and
displays good coloratura and passagework.
Her silvery voice comes under some tension
in the higher register and I would have
liked a little more warmth and expression
in the voice. The recital opens with
the charming ‘Der Liebe himmlisches
Gefühl’ dates from 1782 so it is
a mature work, but the authentic score
is lacking and it survives only in a
keyboard reduction. ‘Vorrei spiegarvi,
oh Dio’, from the following year, is
utterly more demanding on the singer.
Written for Aloysia Weber, Mozart’s
highly talented sister-in-law, for insertion
into Anfossi’s ‘Il curioso indiscreto’
at the Vienna Burg Theater, the vocal
line lies extremely high; van der Heyden
copes well with this stratospheric tessitura,
but she does not really do a lot with
the music. This disc includes one further
aria written for Weber in 1778, a setting
of a text by Metastasio written for
Mannheim, though this one is perhaps
not quite as demanding.
The second disc, sung
by soprano Miranda van Kralingen, begins
with one of Mozart’s best known concert
arias, ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te’ with
van Kralingen being joined by an unnamed
pianist with a delicate touch. The aria
was written for Nancy Storace, who had
been the first Susanna in ‘Nozze de
Figaro’, and she performed it at her
Vienna farewell concert in 1786. Storace
was famous, not so much for the purity
of her tone as for her intelligence
and vivacity. Miranda van Kralingen
sings with style, and her voice has
a richness and variety combined with
dramatic sense lacking in Francine van
der Heyden’s performances. Van Kralingen’s
voice has an attractive but pronounced
vibrato and is inclined to become unsteady
in the upper register; something which
mars a number of her other performances
on this disc. ‘Basta vincesti’, a setting
of a text by Metastasio, is inspired
by an aria by Galuppi and was written
in 1778 for the leading Mannheim soprano,
Dorothea Wendling; Mozart admired her
singing greatly. ‘Al desio, di chi t’adora’,
to a possible text by Da Ponte, was
written in 1789 for A Ferraresi del
Beni to sing in a performance of ‘La
Nozze di Figaro’ in Vienna. It is a
charming rondo with significant parts
for 2 basset horns. Miranda van Kralingen
gives it a sophisticated, fragile performance,
but though her passage work is acceptable
I would have liked a greater sense of
line. In ‘Voi avete un cor fedle’ the
inherent instability in van Kralingen’s
voice rather comes to the fore and mars
the performance. ‘Misero mi’ was written
in 1770 for Milan using a text by Metastasio.
It opens with a very fine, long accompanied
recitative which van Kralingen performs
in dramatic fashion, but the aria is
rather understated with hints of unsteadiness
creeping into the voice. The final aria
on the disc, ’Nehmt menen Dank’, again
written for Aloysia Weber in 1782, is
a charming, German language piece with
hints of singspiel.
The third disc is sung
by the tenor Marcel Reijans. Reijans
voice is bright and his diction is good,
but there is a tight intensity to his
voice which makes it not always ideal
for this repertoire. The charming early
aria, ‘Va, dal furor portata’ was written
for London in 1765 to a text by Metastasio.
Reijans gives a vigorous performance
with some fine passagework. ‘Or che
il dover’ dates from a year later and
was written for the anniversary of Archbishop
Sigismond’s consecration in Salzburg
and it receives a lively, vivid performance.
But with ‘Si mostra la sorte’, which
was written for Salzburg in 1775 we
reach the later, lyrical Mozart and
I would prefer a more relaxed tone than
Reijans seems to be able to give. The
following two arias are both buffo arias
written for Salzburg in the mid-1770s,
the second, ‘Clarice cara mia sposa’
was a replacement for an aria in Picini’s
‘L’Astratto’ Here Reijans gives fine,
idiomatic performances and the arias
suit his voice well. The next piece,
‘Se al labbro mio no credi’ was written
in 1778 for Anton Raaff, the leading
tenor at the Mannheim court theatre.
Mozart tried to win his favour by composing
this setting of one of his favourite
texts, taken from Hasse’s ‘Artaserse’.
(Raaff’s last major role would be ‘Idomeneo’,
after the Mannheim court had moved to
Munich.) Reijan’s gives a shapely, stylish
performance of this lyrical piece, without
ever managing to produce the relaxed
tone it really needs. The final two
arias on this disc, ‘Per pieta, non
ricercate’ and ‘Misero! o sogno’ were
written in 1783 in Vienna for J.V. Adamberger,
a member of the Singspiel and Italian
companies at the Court Theatre. His
voice was admired for its pliancy, agility
and precision and Mozart wrote the role
of Belmonte for him. Reijans is happiest
in the dramatic accompanied recitative
and these lyrical arias tax him a little.
His performances are reasonably stylish,
but his voice style just does not really
match music that was written for the
original singer of Belmonte.
The fourth disc is
devoted to bass arias sung by the Italian,
Ezio Maria Tisi. He gives a vividly
urgent account of ‘Così dunque
tradisci’, with its lovely wind parts;
it was written in Vienna in 1782. Like
a number of arias on the disc, this
aria enables the bass to display his
fine low register. His voice is a little
grainy, but he has a fine sense of line.
In the later, ‘Non sò, d’onde
viene’ from 1787, Mozart gives the singer
large leaps and contrasts the extreme
registers. Tisi performs these feats
with aplomb, but his passage work does
have a tendency to be laboured. Two
arias, ‘Mentre ti lascio’ and ‘Un bacio
di mano’ sound as if they were written
for a lighter, lyric voice and highlight
the hint of unsteadiness in Tisi’s upper
register. ‘Un bacio di mano’ was written
for the Italian bass Francesco Albertarelli
who was a member of the Vienna Burg
Theater in the 1788/89 season. Tisi
sounds rather more comfortable in ‘Ich
möchte wohl den Kaiser sein’ with
its Turkish percussion and jolly, Osmin-like
vocal line.
In ‘Per questa bella
mano’, written in 1791 for the first
Sarastro, Tisi is joined by a concertante
double-bass in a lovely lyrical work
which again shows off the bass’s low
notes. For two items which Mozart wrote
in 1785 for performances at the Burg
Theater of Bianchi’s opera ‘La Villanella
Rapita’, Tisi is joined by a group of
singers to perform a charming quartet
and trio.
The final item on the
disc is rather a surprise. A setting
of a text from Calzabagi’s ‘Alceste’,
‘Popoli di Tessaglia’ was written in
1778 for Aloysia Weber and is sung here
by soprano Annemarie Kremer. Like much
else that Mozart wrote for Weber, this
aria has a stupendous range. Kremer
copes well, but her tone is apt to get
a bit steely and ragged when the notes
become stratospheric.
This disc is attractive
principally because of the virtues of
Tisi’s performance; singing in his native
language he is a highly communicative
singer and makes you wish that Mozart
had written more bass arias.
The fifth disc proves
to be one of the highlights of the set.
It is a recital, originally issued in
1993, by Christiane Oelze. She opens
with ’Ah se in ciel, benigne stele’
which was written in 1788 for Aloysia
Weber. Oelze’s voice has a stunning
crystalline purity and her coloratura
is not only fluent and fluid, but well
integrated into the aria. She sings
the vocal line lightly and the virtuoso
sections with ease. Reading descriptions
of Weber’s voice, this is the type of
performance that we can imagine her
giving. This is followed by a pair of
arias (’Chi sa, chi sa, qual sia’ and
’Vado, ma dove? Oh Dei! ’) written for
a Martin y Soler opera at the Burg Theater,
with words by Da Ponte. They are given
charming renditions by Oelze and her
vocal quality is stunning. But these
are operatic arias, and I began to wish
she would give more characterisation
and make more of the words, something
which also applies to the early ’Per
pieta, bell’idol mio’ with its lovely
coloratura.
‘Ch’io mi scordi te?’
was composed for the 1786 Vienna performance
of ’Idomeneo’ and makes a fascinating
contrast to the later concert aria with
piano obbligato which featured on the
second disc in the set. This version
is a substantial sequence of dramatic
recitative and aria with a lovely solo
violin. Here, and in the last 4 arias
on the disc, Oelze does make more of
the drama especially in the dramatic
recitatives. In the early (1766) ’Oh,
temeraria Arbace’ the recitative is
followed by a charming, lyrical aria.
But this is followed by two items written
for Josefa Dusek, the wife of composer
Frantizek Dusek; Mozart accompanied
her in concerts. ’Bella mia fiamma,
addio’ and ’Ah, lo previdi’ are both
substantial works the latter almost
a sequence of recitatives and arias.
Here Oelze does shape the drama more,
and her expressive singing is very winning.
The final item on the
disc dates from Munich in 1781; ’Misera,
dove son!’ and is a showpiece which
allows the soprano to show of her upper
register with a couple of impressive
leaps; a challenge that Oelze does not
fail.
Despite my strictures
about the lack of drama and dramatic
context in some of these pieces, I could
not help but be charmed by the sheer
pleasure of Oelze’s singing. Many of
these pieces were written for virtuoso
singers of the highest calibre and today
we have to balance good points and bad
points in performance. But for Oelze,
no allowance needs to be made.
The final disc of concert
arias is a reissue of a 1970 recital
by the Hungarian coloratura soprano
Sylvia Geszty. She opens with ‘Mia speranza
adorata!’ which was written for Aloysia
Weber in Vienna in 1783. Apparently
for concert use, Geszty invests it with
all the drama of an operatic scene.
This is the clue to Geszty’s talents
as she integrates stunning coloratura
into the drama behind the words and
music. Her voice is a trifle richer
and her coloratura rather more robust
than Oelze’s; her way with the drama
of the piece is superb. As with the
other pieces written for his sister-in-law,
‘Mia speranza adorata!’ has a wide range
and Geszty is fully equal to the high
notes.
She follows this by
two arias to Metastasio texts written
in Milan in 1770/71. Both are virtuoso
display pieces, complete with cadenzas
and Geszty performs them in fine style.
She is also on good form in another
virtuoso early piece, ‘A Berenice’,
dates from 1766 (when Mozart was 10!)
and is a substantial dramatic recitative
and Da Capo aria. The Metastasio setting
’Ma, che vi fece, o stelle’ dates from
1776 and is closer to mature Mozart
with the coloratura more dramatic in
nature, something which Geszty relishes.
The final aria is another
one written for Aloysia Weber to sing
in Anfossi’s ‘Il curioso indiscreto’
at the Vienna Burg Theater in 1783.
Its companion was sung by Francine van
der Heyden on the first disc. Geszty’s
voice is occasionally a little steely
in the upper reaches, but the coloratura
remains spectacular. You can’t help
feeling that, with Aloysia Weber singing
these two show-stopping arias, Mozart
must have rather hijacked the performances
of Anfossi’s opera.
The orchestras on all
these discs provide capable and ample
support. The first 4 discs use chamber
orchestras with quite lean textures,
their conductors keeps the speeds reasonably
brisk but without every hurrying. On
the 5th disc, Sylvia Geszty
is supported by the Dresden Staatskapelle,
with its rather more well-upholstered
string section. Speeds are still on
the reasonable side and all eyes (or
rather ears) are on Geszty’s spectacular
vocal agility.
The final two discs
are devoted to a survey of Mozart’s
songs, divided between the soprano Claron
McFadden and the bass baritone, Bas
Ramselaar; both accompanied on the fortepiano
by Bart van Oort. Ramselaar seems to
be something of a house bass with Brilliant
as he recorded all the bass solos in
their complete Bach cantatas, issued
on a stupendous sixty CDs.
Mozart’s songs form
a more intimate, easily overlooked part
of his output, but he worked on songs
throughout his career. The earliest
on these discs dates from 1768 (when
he was 12), the latest from the year
of his death. It is perhaps significant
that for these works we change language,
from Italian to Mozart’s native German.
Ramselaar opens with
the earliest song, ‘An die Freude’,
a charming piece premiered in Vienna
in 1768. It has more than a passing
resemblance to the Benedictus from Mozart’s
Wasenhause Messe which was premiered
the same month. Ramselaar displays a
fine, dark lyric voice, warm and rich
with a good sense of line. Though his
diction is excellent, I liked him to
make more of the words. In these early
strophic songs he seems to be content
to think that less is more, a principle
I applaud, but that does not quite work
here. This same problem applies to a
number of the earlier songs on the disc,
such as the Masonic ‘Auf die feierliche
Johannisloge’, ‘Lied zur Gesellenreise’
and ‘Die Zufriedenheit, KV349’. This
latter, written in Vienna in 1780, has
little sense of any dramatic narrative.
But Ramselaar’s performances are still
notable; all have a fine sense of line
and great beauty of tone. In a song
like the more complex, but still strophic,
‘An die Einsamkeit’ these qualities
make a bit impression
In ‘Dans un bois’,
one of a pair of songs written in Mannheim
for Dorothea Wendling, Ramselaar does
make something of the drama in the song,
but his dark tones are not ideal for
this French language song.
In ‘Die Zufriedenheit,
KV 473’, he indulges in rather more
characterisation and in ‘Die betrogene
Welt’ there is a good sense of the narrative
drama of the piece. This is also the
case with ‘Lied der Freiheit’ with its
rather male oriented, anti-women text
by a Viennese satirist.
In its full version,
’Das Lied der Trennung’ has 18 verses,
the first 15 of which are strophic,
but Ramselaar gives us just 7. Based
on the text alone, it would be easy
to dismiss the song, but Mozart imbues
it with all sophistication and the qualities
of loneliness that evoke the spirit
of Pamina. Ramselaar and van Ort do
the music justice and give a fine performance.
This is followed by another more sophisticated
song, with a lovely sighing piano part,
‘Abendempfindung’; in such pieces Ramselaar’s
beautiful line comes into its own, but
here he is does bring out the nuances
within the text. These later songs,
‘Abendempfindung’ and ‘An Chloe’ both
date from 1787, are much more fully
developed with complex piano accompaniment
which brings out the best in the performers.
And in ‘Das Traumbild’ Ramselaar does
give us a good feeling for the dramatic
narrative within the piece.
On the second disc,
all the songs are sung by Claron McFadden.
A soprano with a expressive, complex,
smoky voice and wide experience in Baroque
and coloratura repertoire.
‘Oiseaux, si tous les
ans’ and ‘Dans un bois solitaire’ were
both written for Dorothea Wendling in
Mannheim and McFadden gives them a performance
which brings out their Parisian perfume.
Like Ramselaar, McFadden
thinks that less is more so that in
‘Wie unglücklich bin ich nit’ (1775),
‘Ich wurd’ auf meinem Pfad’ (1781) and
‘Verdankt sei es dem Glanz der Grossen’
(1781) she sings with stunning clarity
and sense of line, but I felt that dramatic
narrative was lacking in these simple
strophic songs.
In ’Der Zauberer’ written
in Vienna in 1785, with its histrionic
piano part, McFadden gives more sense
of the narrative of the poem, though
she could have been more dramatic. ‘Das
Veilchen’, from the same year, is the
sad tale of a violet crushed to death
by the foot of the shepherdess whose
bosom it longed to adorn. Here McFadden
is charming and well characterised in
a song which is rather sophisticated
and not strophic.
The next five songs
all date from 1781. ‘Die Alte’ is directed
‘to sung a little through the nose’,
but McFadden rather plays it straight.
‘Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen
Liebhabers verbrannte’ is a short, dramatic
sendup of opera seria conventions with
a stormy, fantasia-like piano part and
McFadden and van Ort make the most of
it. ‘Abendempfindung an Laura’ receives
a lyrical and thoughtful performance
entirely worthy of this lovely song.
‘Des kleinen Friedrichs Geburtstag’
was composed for the birthday of an
aristocrat and written for inclusion
in a periodical aimed at the young.
It is a charming piece, definitely a
cut above ordinary music for children.
‘Die kleine Spinnerin’ was also written
for a children’s periodical. McFadden’s
performance is musical but lacking a
little in characterisation, you don’t
feel that she is telling a story.
From Mozart’s final
year, 1791, there are three songs. Two,
‘Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge’
and ’Der Frühling’, look forward
yearningly to spring. In the first Mozart
uses a melody borrowed from Telemann’s
‘The Seasons’ to remarkably folky effect.
McFadden gives charming account of this
lyrical but highly developed song. ’Der
Frühling’ receives a calm and thoughtful
performance. Finally, ‘Das Kinderspiel’,
which is directed to be played cheerfully.
But McFadden does not end with this
last song, but completes things with
‘Ridente le calma’ from 1775. This may
not even be by Mozart; one source suggest
that it is his arrangement of an aria
by J. Mysliveček.
Whoever wrote it, it makes a fitting
end to a fine recital.
On both these discs,
Bart van Oort gives discreet but firm
support on the forte-piano, relishing
his occasional chances to shine.
I cannot recommend
this box set too highly; at super-budget
price it is an ideal way to explore
the highways and byways of Mozart’s
genius. This repertoire is not necessarily
high profile but it does shed valuable
light on both Mozart’s larger scale
works and his performers. Here Brilliant
have assembled performances which are
never less than creditable and sometimes
far more than that. The discs come without
programme notes but with complete texts
in the original language only, so if
you want to explore this fascinating
repertoire you will have to do some
research; which is perhaps no bad thing.
Robert Hugill
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 99731 [8 CDs: 49.30 +
64.39 + 47.11 + 55.10 + 60.20 + 47.39 + 54.49
+ 47.53]