MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro

Focile, Vaness, Mentzer, Evans, Murphy; Miles, Corbelli, Antoniozzi, Davies; Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Mackerras. Telarc CD-80388 (3)

Charles Mackerras has modern instruments play in the style of original instruments -- less string vibrato, and so forth. The result is a lucidity in orchestral texture without the old-instrument tartness that can be intrusive. Energetic tempos underscore the comedic urgency, yet there is no sense of rushing.

Long an advocate of ornamentation, Mackerras has gleaned many felicitous touches from a variety of sources: "Dove sono," for example, uses embellishment from a score found in Donaueschingen. While Cherubino's "Voi che sapete" is appropriately restrained in the opera itself, a decorated version by the eighteenth-century pedagogue Domenico Corri is included in a generous appendix, which also presents the premiere recording of Susanna's "Non tardar, amato bene," dropped by Mozart when he reshuffled the Figaro/Susanna key progressions leading to the finale. And there is something eminently right about the way Mackerras applies appoggiaturas -- not superficially or decoratively but expressively, as part of the musical line.

The fact that this is an ensemble performance par excellence in no way diminishes the contributions of the individual singers. Alastair Miles (Figaro) and Nuccia Focile (Susanna) are admirably paired: his elegance and her sprightliness impart the spirit of resourcefulness and revolutionary gutsiness essential to the drama. Susanne Mentzer sings a velvety Cherubino that embodies sensuous youthful energy. Despite a certain edge to Carol Vaness' soprano, hers is a moving, sympathetic Countess, taking the higher lines, as written, rather than trading with Susanna. Suzanne Murphy's Marcellina reveals fire beneath the furbelows, and Rebecca Evans is a poignant Barbarina. Alessandro Corbelli sings an aristocratic Count. As Mozart intended, Mackerras casts Basilio and Curzio with the same singer (the excellent Ryland Davies), likewise Bartolo and Antonio (the equally fine Alfonso Antoniozzi).

- BARRYMORE LAURENCE SCHERER