MOZART: Cosí Fan Tutte

Lott, McLaughlin, Focile; Hadley, Corbelli, Cachemaille; Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mackerras. Telarc 437 CD-80360 (3)

This Mackerras recording is indeed lovable. Modern instruments help, though Sir Charles writes a persuasive argument for the eighteenth-century interpretation he follows, including a good deal of ingratiating ornamentation and lightning-quick tempos (old wind instruments, he writes, couldn't sustain more relaxed pacing).

The "Dammi un bacio" movement of the first finale is gratingly fast, though the singers execute their scale passages with complete control. Yet Mackerras does allow the softer nature of the music to show through, primarily by means of expressive flexibility at the important cadences of the solos.

Here again the cast is well matched, but now often as appealing individually as in ensemble. Felicity Lott sounds pressed at the top range of "Come scoglio," but her warm, plummy tone complements that of Marie McLaughlin and Jerry Hadley in their respective duets. Alessandro Corbelli sings a lyrical, suitably puffed-up Guglielmo. Nuccia Focile's sprightly Despina gratifyingly suggests the quick-witted intelligence of a "Figaro" Susanna without annoying chirpiness, while Gilles Cachemaille's Alfonso conveys the suaveness of an eighteenth-century roué still virile enough to enjoy a dalliance of his own.

This recording includes the extra aria "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo," composed for the first Guglielmo, Francesco Benucci, but not performed at the premiere in Vienna. Mackerras places it at the end of the first disc, preceding the first finale, which starts on disc 2.

- BARRYMORE LAURENCE SCHERER