Amazon.co.uk Review
Mozart's
The Impresario (aka
Der Schauspieldirektor) is the one-act singspiel about squabbling sopranos whose trifling nature leads audiences to assume it must be an early work although in fact it's a mature score, written alongside
The Marriage of Figaro. This recording, done with period forces, has a light, clean elegance with neither the rhythmic energy of, say, an Eliot Gardiner reading nor the vocal beauty of the classic John Pritchard recording for Decca (which had Kiri te Kanawa and Edita Gruberová as the divas). Cynthia Sieden and Sharon Baker, however, make well-balanced rivals in the lead roles: bright and agile, and equipped for the high-lying coloratura Mozart puts their way. There is, alas, no evidence that Mozart put anything in the way of
The Beneficent Dervish, and it shows in a score that offers not too much beyond period charm. But it's of interest as one of the musical pantomimes devised by Schikaneder just before
The Magic Flute (another was
The Philosopher's Stone to which Mozart almost certainly did contribute); and dramatically if not musically it shares so much in common with
Flute that it almost qualifies as a preliminary sketch. This is the first-ever recording and it's neatly put together by Boston Baroque, one of the most respected ensembles of its kind in North America. The spangled, janissary exuberance of the writing--whosoever it might be--comes over with relish. And the elegant, scaled-down performances of singers like John Aler and (again) Sharon Baker make the whole thing pleasant enough--although you may not want to hear it twice.--
Michael White
Album Description
This disc features the world premiere recording of The Beneficent Dervish (Der Woltatige Derwisch), a long-forgotten comic opera written for the Viennese theater by members of Mozart's circle in the last year of the composer's life. Paired with Dervish is the premiere recording on period instruments of Mozart's sparkling one-act spoof on the music business in the late eighteenth century, The Impresario (Der Schauspieldirektor).
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