That Sir Charles is a superb Mozartean is a well-known fact, and
he is well documented on record. Most monumental is his complete
cycle of the symphonies. He has also been successful in the field
of opera, most recently with La clemenza di Tito for DG,
which ranks among the best.
He recorded Così
fan tutte fifteen years ago for Telarc with an international
cast including Felicity Lott and Jerry Hadley. A highlights disc
was issued a while ago (see
review) and it confirmed that the set is competitive in the
crowded field of Così recordings, where it rubs shoulders
with Karajan’s mono recording from the 1950s, now on Naxos, EMI
(see
review) and Regis (see review),
Karl Böhm’s second version with Schwarzkopf and Christa Ludwig
and possibly a couple of others. As always Mackerras is very aware
of performance practice and inspires his singers to embellish
the vocal line. Fifteen years ago he employed the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra, playing on modern instruments but with 18th
century style. When he returns to the opera for this English language
version he goes the whole hog and employs a real ‘period’ band,
the wholly admirable Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Like
the Telarc version this is mostly a swift and virile reading but
even crisper thanks to the period instruments. ‘Swift’ doesn’t
necessarily mean ‘hard-driven’; Sir Charles makes the music breathe
and the overture, the airiest of orchestral pieces, flutters like
a butterfly in the garden on a warm summer’s day, even lighter
when played as here. The delicate scoring, especially the woodwind,
becomes beautifully transparent in his hands. As a whole the many
tender moments of the score are well catered for while there is
no lack of power in the dramatic outbursts. The chorus Alla
gloria militar (‘Oh, the soldier’s life for me!’ in the English
version, CD 1 tr 14) is intensely warlike and both finales fizz
along with spirited elegance.
The feeling of speed
and dramatic unity is properly underlined by the unification
of recitatives and musical numbers: they grip into each other
attacca. The secco recitatives are stylishly accompanied
by a fortepiano.
The cast is a strong
one with two favourite ‘veterans’ in the all-important
roles of Don Alfonso and Despina. They are the ‘masterminds’,
who manipulate the four lovers and for a successful performance
of Così fan tutte those characters need both verbal acuity
and expressive acting. In this case they have both. It might
be argued that Lesley Garrett overdoes things at times with
distorted voice and laughs and giggles but I prefer that to
a straight-faced reading and she sings with her customary finesse;
her aria At fifteen a girl already Must be truly wise and
worldly is as fresh as a newly opened bottle of sparkling
water. Thomas Allen’s voice has hardly aged at all and he is
impressive in the aria Man accuses the woman (CD 3 tr.
10) – the one which ends with Così fan tutte! – and in
recitatives as well as musical numbers his enunciation and phrasing
is a pleasure. Christopher Maltman is both virile and sweet-voiced
as Guglielmo (or Guilelmo as Da Ponte invariably spelled his
name) and Toby Spence can fine down his rather bright tenor
to lyrical tenderness, as in the beautifully sung Her eye
so alluring (Un’ aura amorosa). He is even more impressive
in the duet with Fiordiligi in act 2 All too slowly the hours
are fleeting. Janice Watson has both the creamy beauty and
dramatic bite, and also the wide register for a successful reading
of Fiordiligi’s role. Only on some top notes she can
sound a bit forced. As Dorabella we hear Diana Montague, whose
mezzo-soprano is as secure and well-modulated as ever. Her duet
with Guglielmo is one of the high-spots of this performance.
It is however as
an ensemble performance, as an entity, that this recording stands
out, no doubt thanks to Sir Charles Mackerras’s overriding influence.
The recorded sound is reliable, as it mostly is with Chandos
products, though for my taste some of the recitatives are a
shade too backwardly balanced. The English text version by Marmaduke
Browne was made for a performance by the Royal College of Music
at the Savoy Theatre in London in 1890. It has been adapted
by John Cox and presumably somewhat modernized but it still
has a rather old-fashioned tinge, which isn’t at all unbecoming.
English-speaking
readers who prefer opera in the vernacular need not hesitate:
this is from all points of view a splendid reading. Those who
normally choose recordings in the original language should find
this a highly satisfying version with Sir Charles Mackerras’s
lively conducting and the six accomplished singing-actors co-operating
as a unity that is actually more than the sum of its parts.
Göran Forsling
Janice Watson (soprano) – Fiordiligi; Diana Montague (mezzo) – Dorabella;
Christopher Maltman (baritone) – Guglielmo; Toby Spence (tenor)
– Ferrando; Lesley Garrett (soprano) – Despina; Sir Thomas Allen
(baritone) – Don Alfonso
