Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto
Mozart's Mitridate
Gramophone Choice
Mathias Zachariassen (ten) Mitridate Henriette Bonde-Hansen (sop) Aspasia Maria Fontosh (sop) Sifare Kristina Hammarström (mez) Farnace Lisa Larsson (sop) Ismene Anders J Dahlin (ten) Marzio Sine Bundgaard (sop) Arbate Ars Nova Copenhagen; Danish Radio Sinfonietta / Adam Fischer
Dacapo 6 220580/82 (168' · DDD · S/T/t) Buy from Amazon
Adam Fischer’s interpretation of the 14-year-old Mozart’s first attempt at an opera seria, recorded by Danish Radio in March 2002, now makes its belated appearance on CD. The Danish Radio Sinfonietta play with an ideal balance between lean rhythmic articulation and shapely melodic phrasing. Fischer conducts with a sure sense of pacing; dramatic details in the orchestral ritornellos of each aria are astutely brought out. His versatile shading of the orchestra during the contrasting slow and fast sections of Sifare’s ‘Parto, nel gran cimento’ is sensitively attuned to Maria Fontosh’s switches between tender melodic outpourings and flowing coloratura. The emergence of vigorous orchestral nuances in Farnace’s defiant outburst ‘Venga pur, minacci e frema’ is exemplary because the marvellous Kristina Hammarström is never forced to compete for attention. Mathias Zachariassen navigates notoriously wide leaps with unusual assurance in his entrance cavata ‘Se di lauri il crine adorno’; Zachariassen also copes better than most with the fiendish technical gauntlet thrown down at him in the furious ‘Quel ribelle e quell’ingrato’.
Most impressively, this performance captures the full theatrical potency of the unfurling plot. At the heart of Act 3, Henriette Bonde-Hansen’s solemn characterisation of Aspasia coming to terms with being forced to drink poison is show-stopping. The lighter voices of Sine Bundgaard and Lisa Larsson suit the roles of Arbate and Ismene perfectly, and Anders J Dahlin neatly dispatches the small role of the Roman tribune Marzio. Harpsichordist Richard Lewis prepared the performing edition by abridging the original recitative, adding trumpets and timpani to four numbers with military overtones (some may doubt that this was necessary), and providing a cadenza for the horn obbligato in Sifare’s ‘Lungi da te’ (beautifully played by Thomas Kjelldén). It’s hard to imagine a more satisfying Mozart opera recording.
