Mozart: Le Nozze De Figaro / Renee Jacobs

Véronique Gens, soprano; Patrizia Ciofi, soprano; Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo-soprano; Lorenzo Regazzo, bass; Simon Keenlyside, baritone; Antonio Abete, bass;Kobie van Rensburg, tenor; Nuria Rial, soprano; Marie McLaughlin, soprano; Elisabeth Rapp, soprano; Yeree Suh, soprano; Collegium Vocale,Concerto Köln, conducted by René Jacobs

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Le Nozze di Figaro / Dramma giocoso

Gramophone Magazine June 2010: 250 Greatest Recordings of All Time
Jacob's conductin is sparkling and mischevious.
'This is the only suitable adjective to define what we are looking for, with our period instruments, our fast tempos, the performance of the recitatives, the ornaments added here and there by singers, and a few other features that may surprise the audience: an approach that is not 'Baroque' - the term would be wholly out of place here - but 'neo-Classical', as opposed to the 'post-Romantic' one which began to determine our listening habits in the first half of the twentieth century.
Every period has its own Mozart tradition; the neo-Classical approach is the fruit of an increasingly intense desire, not to 'reconstruct' musical performance practices of Mozart's time, but to utilize them with the imagination proper to the individual personality of each musician, as important elements that are nevertheless subordinate to an overall vision.' (René Jacobs)
With the premiere of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at the imperial and royal Court Theatre on 1 May 1786, Mozart began a new chapter in operatic history. For 'Le Nozze di Figaro' smashes all the conventions of contemporary opera thanks to its unprecedented perfection in the fusion of words and music. The music plays a completely new role: it carries and interprets the action, characterizes the protagonists, even makes audible what is left unspoken. The operatic stage had never seen anything comparable.
'After a 'Così fan tutte' that certainly did not go unnoticed, René Jacobs once again commes to grips with Mozart. Variety of colours, variety of tempos, extremely marked contrasts, finely wrought details, a renunciation of Romantic effusion in favour of sterling Classicism: a recipe that has already shown how effective it can be" (Les Echos, 17/10/2001)

Price: $48.98