Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rodney Gilfry, Carlos Chausson, Eva Mei) [2002]

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Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rodney Gilfry, Carlos Chausson, Eva Mei) [2002]

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Jurgen Flimin's staging for Zurich Opera commands attention for its deep but never too interventionist probing into the psychology of the principals. Motivations and decisions during the - famous JIIe journée are at the centre of a well integrated and always attention-holding performance. On the other hand, with so much detail of characterisation explored, the pacing of the recitative often becomes mannered and over-deliberate, fatally slowing down the onward movement of the action.
The settings (Erich Wonder) hover between eras, the ancien régime seen, as it were, through today's eyes with social chasms very evident. Act 1 is placed in a kind of disused ballroom, full of clutter, Act 2 in an intimate bedroom (though why Cherubino should make his enforced departure through a skylight I cannot imagine), Act 3 on a derelict patio, replete with modern deckchairs and umbrellas. Act 4 begins there before being moved, though mobile backcloths, into a Spanish landscape. It's all very ingenious, even eye-catching, but the ideas at times distract attention from essentials. Florence von Gerkari's costumes also combine, a little uncomfortably, the modern and the period.
The youthful singers form a homogenous whole, led by Eva Mci's at once dignified and rather cheeky Countess. Once past a nervy 'Porgi anior', she sings with increasing beauty and confidence. At her side Isabel Rey, an attractive Spanish soprano new to Joe, offers a bright-eyed, sexy Susanna, sung in imre though not very varied tones until 'Deh vicni non tardar', which is suitably ravishing. Rodney Gilfiy makes a strong, cynical Count, while Carlos Chausson, a Zurich regular, is a fleet, fluent Figaro. Liliana Nikiteanu, also resident in the Swiss capital, is a predictably saucy Cherubino - plump and pubescent. She sings both her arias with a palpitating tone and heart. Robert Hull is an amusing, never exaggerated Bartolo, Elisabeth von Magnus a witty Marcellina.
Harnoncourt's Mozart on this showing is stifflimbed, also a shade pedantic, but behind the concentration on period effects and crisp Nikolaus Harnoncourt 'catches much of the work's true soul' in a fiercely realised Figaro rhythms (though why, then, exclude so many appoggiaturas and entirely leave Out embellishments?), he catches much of the work's true soul. Both video direction and sound quality are exemplary. This might be liked as an off-centre alternative to the straightforward, crisp and observant opening production at the new Glyndebourne, now available on an NVC Arts DVD. Alan Blyth

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Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro (Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rodney Gilfry, Carlos Chausson, Eva Mei) [2002]

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