Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito – Cecilia Bartoli, Barbara Bonney, Christopher Hogwood, AAM

 

Release Date: 03/14/1995 Label: L'oiseau Lyre Number of discs: 2 Composer: W. Amadeus Mozart Performer: Cecilia Bartoli, Barbara Bonney, Christopher Hogwood cd info/ buy

Review:

The appeal of La Clemenza di Tito, if less immediate and less obvious than that of the other operas of Mozart's maturity, is still very powerful and very individual. Take no notice of those who talk of the stiff Metastasian plot: Tito is a classicalrevival opera, a true child of its time, its emotions deeply human—Mozart was doing something new, not rehashing something old (as indeed the opera's continuing popularity after his time bears out). I am moved to make these points not only on hearing the music but also by the character of the present performance, and especially by the sheer emotional force that is evident in much of it, in the singing and also in some aspects of the direction. Christopher Hogwood has assembled a quite remarkable cast, with certainly two, perhaps three, outstanding readings. First among them must be Cecilia Bartoli, who rightly establishes Sextus as the central character, the one whose actions and whose feelings are the focal point of the drama. Then there is Della Jones's remarkable Vitellia and Barbara Bonney makes a really lovely Servillia, soft-toned and warm. Hogwood's keen awareness of what, expressively speaking, is going on in the music, and his refusal to be tied to a rigid rhythmic pulse in order to make it manifest, is one of the strengths of this recording.

 

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