Label: C Major Entertainment/Naxos
Diana Damrau, Carlos Álvarez, Golda Schultz, Markus Werba
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Frederic Wake-Walker, director
For the 225th anniversary of Mozart’s death, Teatro alla Scala presents a new production of Le nozze di Figaro, entrusted to the extraordinary director Frederic Wake-Walker. He focusses the action of the piece on the instability of love: Le nozze di Figaro presents us with the impossibility of a world where everyone is loving and forgiving. In charge of the musical direction is one of the finest Mozart conductors of our times, Franz Welser-Möst, who appears for the first time at La Scala. The main roles are played by Diana Damrau (Countess), Marianne Crebassa (Cherubino), Golda Schultz (Susanna), Markus Werba (Figaro) and Carlos Álvarez (Count).
This DVD and blu-ray is now available for pre-order and will be released on January 5, 2018.
As the Countess, Damrau was able to play out her comic tendencies and she was obviously enjoying herself. If she was the one who had caught the intrigue in a moment, she was already striking again as an affectionate wife who was profoundly offended by her husband's jealousy. As expected, Damrau also provided a grandiose countess with a wide palette of vocal colors with her fine and seemingly effortless dynamic modulations. Her trills, sung in pianissimo, bore the character of a mischievous but at the same time quite furious Countess across the orchestra pit.
– Bachtrack
Diana Damrau as the Countess was terrific on stage, always singing with intention and giving shape to all her phrases. She delivered a magnificent ‘Dove sono’ – one of the best interpretations of this aria that I can remember. She was also superb in the duet with Susanna ...
– Seen and Heard International