About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

In 1954, the Philharmonia Orchestra, up-and-coming conductor Herbert von Karajan, and a dream cast led by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf went into London's Kingsway Hall to record Mozart's Così fan tutte for EMI. Just eight years later, EMI brought Schwarzkopf and the Philharmonia back to Kingsway Hall to record the opera again -- this time in stereo. The cast was equally starry the second time around, with Christa Ludwig, Giuseppe Taddei, Alfredo Kraus, and Walter Berry joining Schwarzkopf in the leading roles, and Karl Böhm replacing von Karajan on the podium. Both versions have been reissued on EMI's Great Recordings of the Century, but the later recording qualifies as one of the great Mozart recordings of all time. Schwarzkopf goes deeper into the character of Fiordiligi here, and although her voice is noticeably thicker and darker, her singing has also gained enormously in confidence. She attacks the fearsome leaps of "Come scoglio" with gusto (her earlier performance seems considerably more tentative). Böhm's conducting also displays more backbone. If Karajan elicited greater refinement from the great London orchestra, Böhm's blunter approach is far wittier -- and much warmer, too. Not everything is improved, though. Kraus makes a memorably ardent Ferrando here, but Leopold Simoneau's dulcet-toned performance on Karajan's recording should be a model of the true Mozartean style for any aspiring tenor. Taken as a whole, however -- as all opera recordings inevitably must be -- no version has made Mozart's score sparkle so brightly or made the characters so genuinely sympathetic. Newly remastered, with an easy-to-read libretto, notes, and track-by-track plot synopsis, it truly belongs in every operaphile's collection. Andrew Farach-Colton, Barnes & Noble

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