COMPOSERS: Mozart
LABELS: BIS
ALBUM TITLE: Mozart
WORKS: Exsultate, Jubilate, K165; Ch’io mi scordi di te?, K505; Schon Lacht der holde Frühling, K580; Mehmt meinen dank, K383
PERFORMER: Miah Persson (soprano); Swedish CO/Sebastian Weigle
CATALOGUE NO: SACD-1529
The young Swedish soprano has this year delighted UK audiences with her Covent Garden Susanna and her Glyndebourne Fiordiligi, and here provides further evidence of outstanding Mozartian skills. Two of Susanna’s arias are included, one the alternative ‘Un moto di gioia’, whose spirit she captures exactly. The canonical serenade ‘Deh vieni non tardar’ benefits from her liquid tone and naturalness of delivery. She also sings the sizeable concert aria ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te?’, written for Mozart to perform with his first Susanna, Nancy Storace, with whom he seems to have been smitten. Once again, Persson’s performance is perfectly in scale and finely judged, the text handled with definition and lightness. Fiordiligi’s ‘Come scoglio’ is delivered with plenty of tonal variety and some panache.
Indeed there are few faults worth mentioning, bar an occasional use of blanched tone in ‘Exsultate, jubilate’, a hint of thinness higher up in ‘Ruhe sanft’ and a less than refulgent trill. Allied to her technical accomplishment are her flawless intonation and fleshy tone, with its delicate range of colours, and an essential factor of artistic personality. Under Sebastian Weigle the Swedish Chamber Orchestra provides an unbroken sequence of immaculate accompaniments. George Hall