This new Currentzis "Figaro" is FANTASTIC !!

[Nick Armstrong]

Can't remember an opera performance grabbing and delighting me so much. Not a dud voice (the age of miracles is not past!!) and above all, those recits with sublimely witty fortepiano accompaniment

First opera recording I have bought for years!!

(And the first fortepiano recording I have ever bought.... Afternoon, vinteuil !! )

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Interesting samples here.

[Dave2002]

Can't remember an opera performance grabbing and delighting me so much. Not a dud voice (the age of miracles is not past!!) and above all, those recits with sublimely witty fortepiano accompaniment

First opera recording I have bought for years!!

(And the first fortepiano recording I have ever bought.... Afternoon, vinteuil !! )

Highlight samples are on Spotify - http://open.spotify.com/track/2G10THzjihKiSv1FyPgeo1

Details are here - http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Sony/88883709262

Re the fortepiano - glad you got round to it in the end. Sometimes the fortepiano is so much better than a modern piano - and you can get used to it. Of course in MoF pianos haven't been used since the Busch era - but harpsichords, modern or older models are common.

[Stunsworth]

On Qobuz here...

http://www.qobuz.com/album/mozart-le-nozze-di-figaro-teodor-currentzis/0886443899575

[amateur51]

What put you on to it Cali?

[Nick Armstrong]

CD of the week innit

11.45am Disc of the Week
Le Nozze di Figaro - opera in 4 acts K.492
Performers: Andrei Bondarenko, Simone Kermes, Fanie Antonelou, Mary-Ellen Nesi, Christian Van Horn, Garry Agadzhanian, Maria Forsstrom, Krystian Adam, Nikolai Loskutkin, Musica Aeterna, Teodor Currentzis
Composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Album Title: SONY CLASSICAL : 88883-709262

[waldo]

Can't remember an opera performance grabbing and delighting me so much. Not a dud voice (the age of miracles is not past!!) and above all, those recits with sublimely witty fortepiano accompaniment

First opera recording I have bought for years!!

(And the first fortepiano recording I have ever bought.... Afternoon, vinteuil !! )

Thanks for mentioning this, Caliban. I hadn't come across this before. Listening on Spotify right now. It is just as you say: something very special. Gorgeous singing. Extraordinary precision and character in the orchestral playing. I may well have to buy it, even though I don't buy CDs any more.......

I just read that he is doing all the Da Ponte operas. Looks like an interesting, even unique, project in some ways. Something to look forward to.......

[martin_opera]

On the basis of your review Caliban I've bought it and from a listen to my free download I'm looking forward to listening on my CD player. A real sense of a company production being more than the sum of its parts. Have not come across much of Simone Kermes and she's perplexing me as the Countess in that I can't decide whether I like her or not. She never seems to sing out, which suits the character and the HIP approach (?), but sometimes I struggle to hear her when she finishes a phrase. She has what I can only describe as a light voice but with a silvery smokiness which sometimes brings to mind Schwarzkopf in timbre, which is nice. She also has wonderful breath control. The best comparisons are to Auger (Ostman) and Martinpelto (Gariner) and I think she does well in comparison but I'm still not sure. A few more listens.