Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaroby Anonymous

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November 28, 2006: This is such a great reading of Mozart's most popular opera that I don't really know where to begin! Frist off, Levine leads the Met Orchestra with perfect pacing and the total control that Mozart's difficult music demands. The sound is captured well and it sounds like all the life and laughter of the composer are coming thru your speakers. The performances are top-notch. Dawn Upshaw sparkles in one of her signature roles: Susanna. Her light, perfectly Soubrette voice is uniquely suited to Mozart's witty and playful heroine. Her Figaro is the dark-toned Italian basso, Ferruccio Furlanetto. His portrayal is firmly is the bass-buffo vein, choosing to emphasize the silliness of the whole plot and really playing up Da Ponte's sometimes off-color Italian. The Countess is sung by Kiri te Kanawa. She is not as richly captured here as she was on the Solti set, but her voice blends more easily with the singers on this set. Tatiana Troyanos is a heavy sounding Marcelina and her aria in Act IV makes for a little more of her weighty mezzo than I care to hear. Anne Sophie von Otter brings her expert lieder sensibilities to Cherubino and while not as bubbly or unique as Von Stade, hers is a more beautifully sung and nuanced performance. The crown jewell of this recording is the Count Almaviva of Thomas Hampson. His light, yet heroic baritone is perfectly suited to Mozart and at the time of this recording his voice was in the full bloom of youth and he uses it to great effect. He captures every facet of the Count's personality, from jilted monarch, to jealous husband to repentant lover. In a role that can too easily be played with such anger, Hampson puts on a clinic of impressive expressivity. This is one to own!