Glyndebourne 1962 – Le nozze di Figaro

0 of 5 stars

Mozart
Le nozze di Figaro – Comic opera in four acts to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte after the play “La folle journée, ou Le mariage de Figaro” by Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais [sung in Italian]

Figaro – Heinz Blankenburg
Susanna – Mirella Freni
Count Almaviva – Gabriel Bacquier
Countess Almaviva – Leyla Gencer
Cherubino – Edith Mathis
Bartolo – Carlo Cava
Marcellina – Johanna Peters
Don Basilio – Hughes Cuenod
Don Curzio – John Kentish
Antonio – Derick Davies
Barbarina – Maria Zeri
Bridesmaid – Patricia McCarry

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra [Martin Isepp (harpsichord continuo)]
Silvio Varviso

Carl Ebert – Producer

Recorded 9 June 1962 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Lewes, Sussex


Reviewed by: Graham Rogers

Reviewed: July 2008
CD No: GLYNDEBOURNE
GFOCD 001-62 (3 CDs)
Duration: 2 hours 42 minutes

 

 

For many music-lovers, there is no greater treat than a performance of “Le nozze di Figaro” – especially amid the care-free atmosphere of a summer festival. This archive release marvellously captures that joyous feeling of all being right with the world.

Its intimately-sized house and rich Mozart heritage – not to mention its pleasurably indulgent social trappings – make Glyndebourne the natural home of “Figaro”. Since Fritz Busch’s pioneering 1934-5 version, the company has engendered two further complete studio recordings, the most celebrated being the 1955 early-stereo account conducted by the then Music Director Vittorio Gui (rarely out of the catalogue). Though starring an impressively tight-knit ensemble cast, I find this account lacking in sparkle, due mainly to Gui’s sluggish tempos.

  • Glyndebourne

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