What a marvellous opera! This is a very fine performance - full of life, actually, and very well sung (Kozena is stunning). It is well paced and seems to me to present this opera in all its glory most effectively. Mackeras is, of course, one of our greatest Mozartians and this is amongst his finest Mozart achievements.
Compared to the equally (I would say) successful but very different Jacobs version which came out around the same time, this is more sober and less prone to gimmickry/imaginative (you choose) touches. It is also, perhaps, less thrilling ... but it is still a highly effective, lively and life-affirming account of what is a more sober and serious Mozart opera than we are mostly accustomed to. Jacobs' account is, of course, a "period performance" while Mackerras' work is merely strongly influenced by the "period performance" movement.
