Search - Mozart: Così fan tutte on DVD

Better than expected

Donald L. Kass | Queens, NY USA | 05/02/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I doubt this would be anyone's choice Cosi but the staging works
very well even if it is in many ways indebted to Sellars classic
Despina's cafe. Now the opera is set in a sort of Club med
(the note's say 1960s youth hostel) so I sort of expected disaster.
None of the singers is vocally impeccable but they aren't bad either.
De Niesse's Despina is terrific. Though not immune to the complaints
of lack of support on top, Despina doesn't demand as much vocally but
she is perfect as a sort of camp companion. What is best is the
score is given complete which isn't the case in most DVD productions.
I can't understand how Muti who insists on including every inkblot
in verdi, cuts Mozart. It shows how Mozart and Da Ponte knew exactly
what they were doing. Shankle might be a real find-- he sings all
three arias quite well. No one in the cast has a perfect trill.
Still, the sum is more than the parts --it works as a concept more
than any other cosi I have ever seen.

"