Harnoncourt on Teldec: Mozart Operas

Dora Stock’s 1789 portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (from the Wikipedia Web page, public domain)

Some readers may recall that, a little over a week ago, I began writing about my “journey” through the latest Warner Classics anthology of recordings made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. The “first step” of that journey involved and first nine CDs in the collection, all devoted almost entirely to symphonies and piano concertos composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. At that time I observed that the release date had been scheduled for September 25, but I see from the Amazon.com Web page that this product is now in stock and is ready for orders and delivery.

I am now ready to account for the eleven CDs in the “second step,” which is devoted almost entirely to the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (I shall explain the “almost” later in this text!) As might be guessed, the first nine of those CDs account for the composer’s “big three” operas: K. 588 (Così fan tutte), K. K27 (Don Giovanni), and K. 492 (The Marriage of Figaro). This is followed by a seven-track CD accounting for K. 345, the incidental music that Mozart composer for Thamos, King of Egypt, a play by Tobias Philipp von Gebler.

The final CD is likely to interest those with fond memories of Peter Shaffer’s play (subsequently made into a film) Amadeus. That CD offers a “side-by-side” account of music by both Antonio Salieri and Mozart. Salieri begins the CD with the music he composed for the one-act opera “Prima la musica e poi le parole” (first the music and then the words); and this is followed by Mozart’s K. 486 Singspiel, “Der Schauspieldirektor” (the impresario). Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II arranged for both of these works to be performed at the same time (one after another, not simultaneously!) for a private luncheon he had arranged for 80 guests. (That should go down well with those that like to listen to music while having a meal!)

From a personal point of view, I was rather pleased to see that baritone Thomas Hampson contributed to all of these performances, with the exception of K. 345. I used to see him regularly at San Francisco Opera performances. On one of those occasions, he stayed at Opera Plaza, which is where I live; and I found myself having to instruct him on the rather complex use of the elevators (conceived for the security of the residents)!

That said, all of these recordings were made in the last century. The earliest (K. 345) was in 1980; and the most recent (K. 492) was recorded in 1993. None of these are recordings of staged performances, since all of them took place in the Concertgebouw building. Nevertheless, these were all “first contact” encounters where my own listening was concerned. Thus, while I have had (and treasured) my Brilliant Classics Complete Works collection of Mozart’s music, I am likely to return to listen to Harnoncourt’s performances with a fair amount of frequency!