It
has been a good year for recordings of La clemenza di
Tito with the reappearance of a classic 1960s account
and a brand new one in the past few months. With the field
of alternative versions gradually massing it is good news
if one wants several options to choose from, but not so good
for the record company concerned should their new contender
not fully make the grade.
Before
considering this version, perhaps it is as well to be acquainted
with the main alternatives:
• Kertész leading the Vienna State Opera on Decca
with Werner Krenn, Berganza, Lucia Popp and Brigitte Fassbaender
at mid-price (see review)
• Böhm on DG with Peter Schreier, Berganza (again) and Julia Varady
• Mackerras with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and
Rainer Trost, Magdalena Kožená,
Hillevi Martinpelto, Lisa Milne, Christine Rice and John
Relyea (see review)
My
colleague Göran Forsling - in his review of the Mackerras
set - was right to draw attention to versions conducted by
Hogwood, Harnoncourt, Gardiner and Colin Davis amongst others,
but in each case their sets are flawed by serious cases of
mis-casting or less than ideal recorded sound. Were I asked
for a recommendation before the appearance of this latest
set, I would have suggested Kertész for an old-style, but
idiomatic account, and Mackerras the best of the recent bunch.
He maintains the use of modern instruments but adds informed
awareness of the freshness often found in period instrument
performances through brisk tempi, a keen ear for sonority
and slight use of vibrato in the playing.
The
present set comes courtesy of a live Bavarian radio recording,
made on 26 February 2006. With no editing to be done one
can understand why RCA have entered the Tito fray so soon
after the event. The sound itself is fine, with orchestral
balance seemingly well handled. The overture displays full
string tone with weight to the bass which is nice, the brass
and timpani all make themselves heard, as do the winds. But… -
oh dear, the ‘buts’ start already - Steinberg’s pacing is
a touch prosaic when heard against Mackerras’. The recitatives
also can fall into routine just a bit too often for my liking – and
on repeat hearings I appreciated the fact that the recitatives
are separately tracked from the arias that follow them. But
that should not be the case. Mozart’s inventiveness is just
as much in the recitatives as in the arias, and the two belong
together in the listening experience, not separately. To
back up my inventiveness argument I could ask for now finer
evidence than Mackerras or Kertész provide and if one wants
arias only, one buys a highlights disc in preference to a
complete recording.
It
is clear then that the singing on this set is going to play
a crucial role in securing any recommendation. Bulgarian
mezzo Vesselina Kasarova, cast as Sesto, is the soloist this
set is built around. Her image adorns the sets cover and
none of the other singers get a look in, though they deserve
to as there are some reasonable artists among them.
At
least a decade ago I heard Kasarova in Munich and noted then
the vocal freshness and agility that first launched her into
an international career. Having heard her last year in London,
much of these qualities seemed absent. Voices age and develop
with time like no other instrument; some fare well, others
less so. Part of the skill in singing, it could be said,
is how the artist acknowledges and works with the aging process
to produce music that’s still acceptable before the public.
Many might be tempted to call the state of her voice as heard
on this recording ‘mannered’ (indeed, I have done so myself – see review),
but I am having increased reservations about the use of the
word in music criticism and what exactly its use is intended
to imply. Yes, Kasarova has a voice that projects well and
produces adequate tone even if done with a little effort
at the extremes of her range. As I commented in that review
of that live performance, the chest voice remains in good
shape and she can float the voice, though she does so with
care. She conveys a sense of drama in her singing and, notwithstanding
the factors just mentioned, has a good sense of Mozartian
line. Whether that is sufficiently to one’s taste is something
that only an individual can judge, though her reading of
big moments such a Parto, parto, ma tub en mio are
certainly individual. She does command, though with an ever
present slight vibrato in the voice. Alright does not impress
as readily here as Berganza does, but few singers have made
the aria as completely their property as Berganza did. Listen
to Kasarova in the recitativo accompagnato that follows
soon after, however, and you become aware that in the heat
of the moment can cause her to forego vocal security, where
a studio recording would maintain it.
Véronique
Gens’ Vitellia is flexible of voice and clear of tone. She
sings naturally and catches a nice medium between control
and impetus for real warmth of conviction in her reading.
Much of the text though seems skated over in faster passages
in her haste to propel notes into the air. Castronovo’s tenor
is a substantial instrument, though he employs it with intelligence,
scaling down where he can. This is of considerable benefit
as recitative passages constitute the bulk of the role.
If
only the same could be consistently said for Michelle Breedt’s
Annio. A firm mezzo, she displays a tendency to make her
recitatives into more than they should be. If they are large-scale,
what chance is there for arias to make their full impact?
Much better by far is Alexia Voulgaridou’s reading of Servilia.
Having welcomed her aria recital on Arte Nova (see review)
it’s good to hear her in some Mozart. Much sensitivity towards
the music is in evidence. Paolo Battaglia makes what he can
of the opera’s only bass role and proves imposing in the
process.
Good
though it is in parts, overall this release does not displace
either Mackerras or Kertész as my recommendation for a complete
recording. Mackerras keeps me constantly surprised with the
amount of nuance he finds in the score, and his cast is consistently
finer, displaying inventive originality in their singing
too. Kertész is his own recommendation and presents no less
valid a view of the work. The fact that this RCA set only
comes with libretto in PDF format (on CD1) is perhaps a final
factor against it – it seems parsimonious at full price to
ask the listener to additionally cover the printing cost
for some 25 A4 pages when Mackerras’s set comes with full
printed libretto and good notes to boot.
Evan Dickerson
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Tito, Emperor
of Rome, Charles Castronovo (ten); Sesto, a Roman patrician,
friend of Tito, in love with Vitellia,
Vesselina Kasarova (mezzo); Vitellia, daughter of the emperor
Vitellius, Véronique Gens (sop); Servillia, sister of Sesto,
in love with Annio, Alexia Voulgaridou (sop); Annio, a
Roman patrician, friend of Sesto, in love with Servillia,
Michelle Breedt (mezzo); Publio, Paolo Battaglia (bass) 
