Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Siepi, Gueden, Della Casa - Kleiber 19553CDs - ADD
DECCA 1999
Performer: Hilde Gueden, Suzanne Danco, Hilde Rössl-Majdan, Cesare Siepi, Fernando Corena, Murray Dickie, Hugo Meyer-Welfing, Anny Felbermayer, Harald Pröglhöf, Alfred Poell, Lisa Della Casa
Conductor: Erich Kleiber
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Date of Recording: 06/1955
Venue: Redoutensaal, Vienna, Austria
Erich Kleiber's 1955 Vienna Figaro marked the first complete recording of what is arguably Mozart's greatest opera. What a performance! Cesare Siepi and Alfred Poell bring Figaro and the Count, respectively, to life, and play off each other, as do the female principals. Hilde Gueden's sweet and straightforward Susanna stands out, along with Fernando Corena's deliciously idiomatic Bartolo (his is still the best Act I Vengeance aria on disc). Kleiber's well-drilled Viennese musicians are an integral part of the ensemble. The legendary conductor's sense of proportion, transition, and rightness of tempo still rings true after all these years. Though the sound may not match contemporary Figaro traversals on CD, musicmaking on this level will never grow old. In sum, a landmark in the annals of Mozart recordings and interpretation. --Jed Distle
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