Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Idomeneo
Richard Croft, tenor; Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano; et al
RIAS Kammerchor & Freiburger
Barockorchester
René Jacobs, conductor
Harmonia Mundi
René Jacobs’ ongoing recorded survey of Mozart’s operas has reached the composer’s first masterpiece, Idomeneo, premiered in Munich in 1781. Again Jacobs has proved incapable of a haphazard or thoughtless interpretation. This is the most human-scaled performance of the work I have ever heard. The emphasis on intimacy is underscored by Jacobs’ choice of voices. As Ilia, the first voice we hear, Sunhae Im’s very light, silvery soprano is just this side of a soubrette, but her pointed delivery and laser-like purity imbue the character with emotional seriousness; her singing is ravishing but her plight is never to be overlooked. As Idamante, the remarkable Bernarda Fink adds another fine characterization to her quiver; she is every inch the prince, son and lover, and her long confrontation with Idomeneo, all in recitative, carries great dramatic weight. In the title role, I doubt that Richard Croft will ever be bettered. He doesn’t bring the “large” Italian tenor that Domingo and Pavarotti brought to the role, but neither is he a pallid, English, proper singer. The voice has plenty of meat on it and he is so adept at fast passagework that he opts for the almost impossibly florid version of “Fuor del mar” and nails every note — a noble performance. Jacobs clearly sees Elettra as mad from the start, and Alexandrina Pendatchanska brings ideal weight, pitch, expressivity and lunacy to the role. Even in her first aria and in the quick changes of mood of her second, she and Jacobs ratchet up the tempo as a manifestation of Elettra’s craziness.
As usual, Jacobs allows — indeed, encourages — plenty of embellishments to the
vocal lines, as well as appoggiaturas galore and continuo riffs from both pianoforte and cello that comment on the recitatives they are supporting, invariably serving to heighten the drama. The Freiburger Barockorchester’s members play like virtuosi. This is a very special, terrifically entertaining Idomeneo.
—Robert Levine
