Mozart: Mitridate, rè di Ponto (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1993)

W. A. Mozart was 14 when he wrote this fantastic opera seria, his first. This opera features splendid virtuoso arias for the principal roles, but only 2 ensemble numbers: the Act II ending duet between Aspasia and Sifare (Se viver non degg'io), and the brief quintet that ends the opera, very characteristic of standard baroque opera seria where the opera ends with a short coro or tutti number.I really have to say that the tenor Bruce Ford interpreting the role of Mitridate is one of the most beautiful singing that I have ever heard, his voice is like flying through the clouds, his legato and his beautiful sound make his singing of superior elegance. I highly recommend this recording.

I have a version of this opera on VHS with Gosta Winbergh that blew me away when I saw it. I have been waiting hopefully for its appearance on DVD...but, I gave in and bought this one while I'm waiting. Absolutely excellent. Young Mozart was a soulful 14-year old to be sure. Much of his early-mid music strikes me as a mathematical exercise, with just about that much resonance...but this music is full of honest emotion without excess. Shades of the mature Mozart with no need to give ground for his extreme youth.

This is an intriguing production of a little-known opera.Opera seria was a favorite genre during the Baroque period, but these works were in no way theatrical in the modern sense. In a typical scene, the plot was moved along by two or more characters conversing in secco recitative, after which a character would sing an aria describing his emotional state, and then exit. And this occurred over and over. In his early opere serie Mozart stayed within the conventions, and these works are rarely seen because of the difficulty of staging them in a way that’s meaningful to modern audiences. In fact, Charles Rosen opines that opera seria cannot be staged meaningfully for today’s audience. Efforts to make these operas dramatic in the modern sense have generally failed.In this production, director Graham Vick addresses the static-ness of the work by imposing very stylized movement and gesture. This approach rather resembles the style of Japanese drama, which could explain why the costumes and makeup recall medieval Japan (rather than Anatolia in the first century BCE…) This sounds strange, but it actually works well. The stylized staging gives us something to look at without distracting from the brilliant singing, which is the main raison d’être of opera seria.And the singing is splendid. The cast includes two sopranos, two tenors, and three castrati (sung here by two sopranos and a countertenor). All the roles are extremely demanding vocally in terms of range and agility, and all the singers are wonderful. Conductor Paul Daniel leads a well-paced, stylish performance. And one can only be amazed by the high quality of the music produced by the 14-year-old Mozart. This is not an opera you’re likely to see often, and this DVD is strongly recommended.

The singers are great, especially Bruce Ford and Ann Murray. Unfortunaly, the director has made bad choices regarding the sets ... and the costumes. They are so exaggerately wide that the characters seem to be sitting on the border of their bed! And what about the make-up? All characters have white faces. You could believe they are dead. All this deconcentrates the viewer. I was so frustrated that I stopped looking at it and did something else while listening. I would recommend to buy the CD version with Cecilia Bartoli instead. If you buy this one, listen to it, but turn your TV off!

hatte mir DVD wegen Jochen Kowalskyi gekauft, Um Himmelswillen, unmögliche Kostüme und Schminke, schade um die tollen Stimmen, hab dieses komische Werk wieder verkauft

Expected perfect

This is a performance given some years ago at Covent garden. It received enthusiatic reviews from various sources. Frankly, I was disappointed. I did not like the over-elaborate costumes. I would have preferred a much simpler and more straight forward production.