Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro.(Sound Recording Review)

[] Gens, Ciofi, Kirchschlager, Rial, McLaughlin; Regazzo, Keenlyside, van Rensburg, Abete; Concerto Koln, Jacobs. Text and translation. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901818/20

The great familiarity of singers and conductors with Le Nozze eli Figaro can lead to careless, run-of-the-mill performances. It's easy to forget that familiarity can also be merely the starting point for a thorough exploration of the work. This new Figaro is carefully rethought, with all the components solidly integrated. It's as vivid as any video performance, and it is ultimately a deeply satisfying experience.

Figaro matters. It is still among the most emotionally exhausting of operas. Conductor Rend Jacobs starts with the assumption that everything in the score is there for a reason. Figaro's Act I "Se vuol ballare" is for real--stealthy, dangerous and wounded. It's the Count who is polished and self-assured (although Jacobs makes sure that the strings in the orchestra poke fun at him in the Act I trio). The introduction to the first duet gives us the characters of Susanna and Figaro even before they sing: the violin lines and the richly characterized cello lines flirt with each other. The march in Act III is elegant and formal--duty--calls but after the unmasking of the Countess, the orchestra seems not to know what to drink.

Moments that are often a problem in performance, such as the abrupt start of the letter duet, are reexamined. In this instance, Jacobs has the fortepianist play a two-bar lead-in that sets the phrasing off on the right foot. The duet itself becomes a game. It starts with the naughty secret of putting one over on the Count, but it turns into a game of ornamentation between the singers. And the final "Son confuso, son stordito" section of the Act II finale is not the usual mad dash to the refreshment stand. Instead, a measured pace allows us to hear the entire cast trying to puzzle out what has just happened. Nobody knows the whole story, after all.

The cast was thoughtfully chosen. Simon Keenlyside is above all a musicianly Count. He has darkened his voice for the role, often sounding (as he never does in life) like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Lorenzo Regazzo's portrayal of Figaro is capped by an excellent Act IV aria, sung in anguish rather than anger. Susanna lies a little ...