Mozart's 'Mitridate', a Royal Indulgence
Written: Feb 13 '07 (Updated Jan 19 '09)
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Pros: Brilliant cast delivers the good. Splendid virtuosity.
Cons: Opera seria... long strings of pyrotechnic arias one after another.
The Bottom Line: The work itself maybe acquired taste, but the performance is brilliant. Mozart's genius is well served. Live sound, tho.
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| smorg's Full Review: Festspieldokumente - Mozart: Mitridate / Norringto... |
W.A. MOZART: Mitridate, re di Ponto (Mitridate, King of Pontus) (KV.87)
This audio CD set is a live recording from a performance of Mozart’s first successful opera seria from the Kleines Festspielhaus during the Salzburg Mozart Week in February 1997 conducted by Sir Roger Norrington.
Written by the 14 years old composer for the Milan Carnival of 1771 on the text of the poet Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi (after Jean Racine’s tragedy ‘Mithridate’, a historical fiction based on Mithridate VI of Pontus), this 3 acts opera seria is originally nearly 6 hours long (with 3 ballets). This performance thankfully cuts all the ballet and much of the recitatives and trims most of the arias, coming in at only 152 minutes.
The story is set in the year 63 BC in Asia Minor, Mitridate, King of Pontus (on the SE shore of the Black Sea), is away at war with the Romans when he decides to use his latest defeat to test the loyalty of his 2 sons; Farnace and Sifare by putting out a fake news of his death.
The opera opens in Nymphaeum where Mitridate’s fiancee Aspasia was staying. Upon hearing of their dad’s (fake) demise from the Governor Arbate, both sons dispute the other’s claim to the throne of Pontus and to their father’s fiancee(who returns only Sifare’s affection). When Mitridate reappears alive with the Parthian Princess Ismene he expects Farnace to marry (this character isn’t in the Racine play), it sends his already disenchanted eldest son over the edge to conspire with the Roman tribune Marzio against his inconsiderate dad, exposing his brother’s affection for Aspasia in the process. Outraged, Mitridate jails them both and sends Aspasia poison, which she would have taken had Sifare not interfered. As the battle between Rome and Pontus heats up Marzio helps his co-conspirator Farnace break out of jail, but in a magnificent 3 part aria ‘Gia dagli occhi il velo e tolto’, the prodigal son turns good and burns the Roman fleet to aid his dad instead. Mitridate comes back victorious from the battle but is mortally wounded. He pardons Farnace (who then marries Ismene) and unites Aspasia and Sifare before expiring.
The music is spectacular, especially considering the composer’s age. The show opens with a 3 part symphony in D major for an overture, followed by strings of acrobatic short arias typical in seria style opera, whose design is to show off virtuoso voices and not much on telling the story (apparently virtuoso voices didn’t like sharing the stage either... there are only 2 ensembles in the entire show, the lovely duet ‘Se viver non degg’io’ that ends Act II, and the short finale ensemble of 5 principals that lasts all of 1 and 1/2 minutes). The arias are written in ABA or in ABAB formations, but in this performance most of them are cut to only the A section, leaving very little room for the singers to try to communicate their character’s thought in less than half the time the original script calls for. Some are more successful than the others, but all are affected. The most grievous shearing has to be Farnace’s famous Act I rage aria ‘Venga pur minacci e frema’ which is cut to less than half its original length. Though there is some consolation to be had that all original arias are presented and some, like Farnace’s celebrated repentance scene, ‘Gia dagli occhi’, and Sifare’s sweet Act II farewell to Aspasia with horn obbligato, ‘Lungi da te, mio bene’ are performed intact.
Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlVOKSKQiew
The numbers of interest are; 'Al destin, che la minaccia', 'Parto: Nel gran cimento', 'Venga pur, minacci e frema', 'Quel ribelle e quell’ingrato', 'Lungi da te, mio bene', 'Son reo; l’error confesso', 'Se viver non degg’io', 'Gia dagli occhi il velo e tolto'.
Cast:
Mitridate (King of Pontus) ::: Bruce Ford (tenor)
Aspasia (his fiancee) ::: Cyndia Sieden (soprano)
Farnace (his eldest son) ::: Vesselina Kasarova (mezzo-soprano)
Sifare (his younger son) ::: Christiane Oelze (soprano)
Ismene (Parthian princess) ::: Heidi Grant-Murphy (soprano)
Marzio (Roman tribune) ::: Toby Spence (tenor)
Arbate (Governor of Nymphaeum) ::: Larissa Rudakova (soprano)
Conductor ::: Sir Roger Norrington/ Camerata Salzburg
Cembalo ::: Gordon Murray, Violoncello ::: Heidi Litschauer
This is a live recording with slightly muffled sound, though the voices are well captured. There are non-musical noises (including coughing and applause)... especially during Farnace’s numbers (as if everybody else sing static while Farnace does all the moving about). I like it because the live sound helps me relate to what is happening during the scenes better. But for those who prefer clean studio recording quality, this is probably a minus. The musical performance is spectacular, however. You’ve got to give it to the organizers of the Salzburg Festival for being able to attract wonderful performers for their performances. This cast is full of Mozart specialists who perform up to their high expectations (and...as unbelievable as it may sound, they all have working trill!!).
The American tenor Bruce Ford is thoroughly convincing as Mitridate, the proud and menacing King of Pontus whose test of his sons’ loyalty yields unwelcome revelations. His voice has a wonderful agility that displays no difficulties singing Mitridate’s extremely acrobatic (though short) music. There is no questioning his outrage in Act I ‘Quel ribelle, quell’ingrata!’. More impressive is how expressive he is during the recitatives (sung speech connecting the musical numbers), however. Making every syllable count, a trait I really enjoy in performers.
Princess Aspasia is very ably sung by American soprano Cyndia Sieden, whose very beautiful soprano voice makes for a vocally becoming princess. There are some clean up work to do in her strangely edgy upper register; however, especially in coloratura runs which tend to turn blurry up high (surprising considering how agile her voice is). That said, I really enjoy the way she embodies her character in her singing. Her voice mixes very well with German soprano Christiane Oelze’s Sifare’s in the wonderful Act II ending duet (Sifare was originally sung by a soprano castrato). This is my first exposure to Frau Oelze and I’m eager to hear more. Even with nearly vibrato-free voice, she is moving in the wonderful horn obbligato aria ‘Lungi da te, mio bene’.
The Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova lets her Ms Hyde side come out as a convincingly mean Farnace (originally an alto castrato role, now either sung by a mezzo or a soprano counter-tenor). Her register break is perceptible due to the wide vocal range the part required, but how she exploits the break into a dramatic coloring tool is something educational. It is only once in a blue moon do we get a really mean sounding Farnace for this opera as the role is very low for a mezzo or a soprano-counter-tenor, with some really uncomfortable high acuti notes (I have never heard David Daniels in this role, but I like his take on Farnace’s long aria in his Senti amor CD very much). Not often do we hear a mezzo attacks down low this gallantly. She manages to vent more rage out in the severely shortened Act I ‘Venga pur’ than I’ve heard many other Farnace manage in other full-length recordings. The darn thing is that she moves around a lot and so the voice fades in and out and jumps between the speakers a lot.... making for some weird listening. She doesn't move around much for the long aria of repentence 'Gia dagli occhi il velo' and delivers the highlight of the show.
The sweet voiced soprano Heidi Grant-Murphy is in wonderful voice as Ismene, giving a brilliant (and entirely audible) account of the long-suffering princess. Tenor Toby Spence and soprano Larissa Rudakova do well in their cameo roles of Marzio and Arbate (another formerly alto castrato role). A remarkably strong cast!
Sir Roger Norrington does a wonderful job of making this performance flow without feeling rushed (most of the time) in his conducting. Amazingly smooth transition between dry recitatives and arias. Perhaps he could have explore the nuances in the slower music more, but given the length of this opera, I’m glad he didn’t.
2 CD. Sung in Italian. Booklet contains track list, an essay on how Mozart wrote the opera, its performance history, notes on the principals in German and English. No libretto (but one can be found at http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/mozart_mitridate.html).
I am very grateful to Shelley for adding this CD to the database so speedily. Thanks!! :o)
At 1471 words, this review is the fat man on campus. As lean as a Polish sausage and as mean as ..er.. Smaug the evil dragon?
Review of other Mozart opera:
Apollo et Hyacinthus (Salzburg 2006), Ascanio in Alba (Salzburg 2006), Bastien und Bastienne/Der Schauspieldirektor (Salzburg 2006), La clemenza di Tito (Salzburg 2003), La clemenza di Tito (Zürich 2005), La clemenza di Tito (Munich 2006), La clemenza di Tito (JE Gardiner), Cosi fan tutte (Ponnelle film), Don Giovanni (Met 2000), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Salzburg 1998), La finta giardiniera (Salzburg 2006), La finta semplice (Salzburg 2006), Idomeneo (Salzburg 2006), Idomeneo (Met 198-), Lucio Silla (Salzburg 2006), Mitridate (Salzburg 1997), Mitridate (Rousset), Le nozze di Figaro (live performance- SDO 2007), Die Zauberflöte (ROH 2001), Die Zauberflöte (Modena 2005), Die Zauberflöte (Zürich 1999)
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Cleaning the House
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Member: Smorg
Location: Southern California, USA
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