Compact discs and DVDs of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas are not an endangered species. I found 66 Figaros, 71 Don Giovannis, and 46 Cosis currently available on the American market, a few more are available through European outlets. Two things set this boxed album apart: the orchestra uses period instruments, and many of the artists appear in all three operas. It was conceived as a festival/repertoire project. The time these artists spent together is reflected in the ensemble spirit they achieved, and, in deed, a family resemblance in performance style and sound unites the three operas.

Although many Baroque and Classical era operas have been recorded using period instruments, relatively few of Mozart’s operas have. The catalog is expanding in this direction, but these Malgoire recordings, along with a series from Drottningholm and a few by Norrington and Harnoncourt were pioneering efforts. Mozart’s delicate textures and the subtleties of his orchestration are wondrously revealed with period instruments. Often, musicians playing modern instruments strive to achieve the proper balance, yet the timbres inherent in period instruments let everything fall into place. If you’re used to hearing these three popular Mozart/Da Ponte operas on modern instruments, you’re likely to have a new, perhaps even a refreshing experience with this trilogy played by either La Grand Écurie under Malgoire or the Drottningholm Court Theatre Orchestra under Arnold Östman.

Malgoire makes some textual choices that may be controversial, depending on your tastes. A note in the libretto regarding changes in Le nozze reads: “At the time of the premieres of Nozze di Figaro in Vienna, Mozart distributed the roles of both Curzio and Basilio to one singer, and the roles of both Antonio and Bertolo [sic] to another. The original order of the scenes in Beaumarchais’s play had to be altered, as Antonio and Bartolo appeared in two consecutive scenes. Having two different singers for Antonio and Bartolo, we chose to restore the original order in our production.”

The note regarding Così fan tutti reads: “This recording is a ‘musical facsimile’ of the production of Jean-Claude Malgoire and director Pierre Constant. This results in slight changes in the order and choices of certain scenes.”

Neither of these re-orderings should be of much concern unless you are following the singing using librettos other than those supplied with the album, or if you have firm convictions about tampering with Mozart’s operas. The deletion of the final scene in Don Giovanni might be more troublesome for people used to its inclusion. The explanation in the booklet’s plot synopsis tells us that after Don Giovanni is dragged down to Hell, that “was the end of the drama. But the social and theatrical conventions of the time and ‘dramma giocosa’ preferred a happy ending. So Mozart added a final scene in which the other characters assemble and point the moral. He himself omitted this ending when the work was revived in Vienna; in the 19th Century, it was always cut. Mahler avoided using it; Bruno Walter brought it back; sometimes it was even replaced by the Dies Irae from Mozart’s Requiem! For two centuries, the question has been posed, with no answer! Perhaps it is simply a matter of choice.” It does end the opera rather abruptly: Don Giovanni sings “Ah!” and is dragged down to Hell, Leporello sings “Ah!” and that’s all folks! Music is done, end of opera!

Malgoire essentially uses the Prague version, but includes Elvira’s aria “Mi tradí quell’alma ingrate” from the Vienna version. Östman presents the Prague version with all of the Vienna additions/alterations as an appendix on a separate disc. This disc of Vienna material apparently has been deleted in the re-release version that is now sold with just two discs as a Decca Double-Decker.

The performances on the Malgoire set are very good. The tempos in Le nozze are somewhat more relaxed than those in Giovanni and Così, but overall they are very genial performances with no sharp edges and lots of attractive singing by a group of people with very pleasing voices. The only singer I recognized was Véronique Gens (Donna Elvira), but don’t be dissuaded from appreciating the merits of these recordings if you, like me, are unfamiliar with many of the artists. They are certainly on a par with the more internationally recognized singers on the Drottningholm recordings; Hagegård, Auger, Della Jones, Bonney, Terfel, Yakar, Gösta Winbergh, and Tom Krause.

In contrast to the Malgoire readings, I occasionally found the Östman performances to have a bit more punch, especially in Le nozze. The overall recorded sound on the L’Oiseau-Lyre (now released on Decca) is more prominent, but the sound on Naïve has a mellowness that is quite pleasing.

The booklet Naïve supplies is 320 pages with brief notes in French and English, a breakdown of each opera by track numbers (eight discs in paper/plastic lined sleeves), and the librettos in Italian with French and English translations. The album sent for review is Naïve 8904, however it also appears to be sold under Naïve 8606 with different cover art and a higher price.

The trilogy from Drottningholm, once sold individually on the L’Oiseau-Lyre label, is now available in a boxed set from Decca (470860) that also includes Die Zauberflöte and some of the alternative arias Mozart wrote for these works. Decca is also selling some, but not all, of these operas individually as part of their Double-Decker series.

Some other original instrument recordings of the Mozart/Da Ponte works worth mentioning include a wonderful Le nozze di Figaro on Harmonia Mundi (René Jacobs) and Don Giovanni on EMI (Norrington). The Norrington includes both the Prague and Vienna versions. It can be played as is, or can be programmed to isolate each version, although you need a CD player that recognizes indexes to access individual musical events.

-- David L. Kirk, Fanfare