By John Austin
Mozart’s outstanding music, and Da Ponte’s superb libretto and chessboard plotting, result in “Cosi fan tutte” being rather too much of a good thing for one night’s entertainment, in particular when seen for the umpteenth time. Happily the opera has fared well on record, enabling music lovers to take delight in it at liesure at home.
This 1954 recording, invented by Walter Legge, was the third “complete” recording of the opera to be released. Perhaps because of the exigencies of accommodating it onto LP records, a heap of of the secco recitatives were cut, leaving a running time of eight or nine minutes beneath full length. Although a monaural recording made almost fifty years ago, it is still one of the two top commended versions in the “Penguin Guide to Compact Discs”.
Karajan, prior to his Berlin Philharmonic days, provides well-judged direction, broadening tempi most times in his inimitable way, such as in the Act 1 march, but sustaining a light touch elsewhere, particularly for the duration of the asides offered by Despina and Alfonso. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s Fiordiligi is a woman with enormous depths and subtleties of character. The singer’s widely known and esteemed capacity to color her voice is nowhere more evident than here, her initial try at singing this part. Perhaps this Fiordiligi is too intelligent, too sensitive. Listening to Schwarzkopf’s Fiordiligi, perchance you doubt that this reputation could ever be slanged by into believing her maid Despina, to a considerable degree dissembled in costume and voice, was a medico and then a notary.
Blending well with Schwarzkopf in the role of Dorabella is the American mezzo Nan Merriman, already in 1954 a brought up singer in this part. As Despina, Lisa Otto sings her arias neatly and enjoys herself impersonating Signor Dottore and Il Notaio. None better, perhaps before or since, has been heard in the portion of Ferrando than the French-Canadian tenor Leopold Simoneau. Rolando Panerai, as the baritone who never gets much solo work to do, makes the most of his three-minute “Donne mie”. Sesto Bruscantini, who seldom delivered an imperfect performance or recording, is a lighter-voiced and more interesting than most Don Alfonso.
This is a “Cosi” that will not disappoint those who wish to listen the opera repeatedly and who receive that good monaural sound may offer in it is own way as much enjoyment as good black and white photography. My copy has an Italian only libretto included.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Understated perfection
By Ralph Moore
I have lived for years with the Bohm recording as my favourite “Cosi”, always with a sideways longing glimpse towards the neglected Lombard set on Erato (see my review), but the latter actually is too languorous at times – and that might be what you would suppose of Karajan, too, but you would be wrong. He starts pacy and sprightly and so it continues, never rushed but beautifully pointed and taut – whereas Bohm may now and again lack subtlety. So my recent re-acquaintance with this set has made me question my commitment to Bohm. At first, one wonders whether a lot of of the singing and playing might be a little understated; everything is so subtly and delicately underscored without any hint of vulgarity – and of course, the orchestral playing is of the most eminent quality, the Philharmonia of this amount of time comprising a heap of of the greatest wind players of their era, including Denis Brain on horn. If you like your Mozart on amount of time instruments rattled off at breakneck speed, this recording is not for you, but I must emphasise that there is no lack of pace or tension in this performance. All the soloists have particularly fleet, light, sweet voices with that old-fashioned, quick, flickering vibrato now out of fashion and they are pros of the text. Bruscantini is much lighter of voice than the Don Alfonsos to which we have become accustomed today and his is a beautifully shaded, cynical yet affectionate, characterisation. I am not always fond of Schwarzkopf, but here she is in freshest, purest voice, for the most part free of mannerisms and even better than ten years later with Bohm. Merriman is a perfective foil, with her warm, vibrant mezzo, and Simoneau is plainly the best Ferrando on record. Panerai provides terrifi support, and even even though I still marginally prefer the perfective Steffek as Despina in the later set, Otto is pert, pretty and funny.
The mono sound is clean and forward without distortion. However, the substitute Naxos issue is even for less than this “Great Recordings of the Century” version on EMI and I can not imagine that the EMI is any better re-mastered – and you have a bonus selection of Schwarzkopf arias to boot. So go for the Naxos and receive pleasure from a connoisseur’s performance of a good deal of of the most sublime music ever written.
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Karajan’s Cosi