Mozart: Idomeneo (2-CD) – Luciano Pavarotti

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Artists: Gundula Janowitz, Luciano Pavarotti, Neilson Taylor, Enriqueta Tarrés, Richard Lewis, David Hughes, Dennis Wicks, London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Chorus
Conductor: John Pritchard
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Glyndebourne
CD Release Date: April 27, 2010

Mozart is very much Glyndebourne’s signature composer, and in point of fact the chorus was instrumental in putting Mozart back into the repertoire in the UK, so much so that the performing edition of Idomeneo was commissioned by Glyndebourne’s music director Fritz Busch.

Glyndebourne’s 1951 production of Idomeneo was the first professional performance in Great Britain. This 1964 recording is from the last staging of that production. John Pritchard was a consummate Mozartian, and this recording allows, for the first time, Janowitz and Pavarotti to be heard before their respective international careers took off. Their vocal timbres are instantly recognizable – fresh, vital, flexible and already burgeoning with a distinctive projection of the text and drama.

Pavarotti went on to have a long association with this opera, moving to the title role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and recording it in the early digital age of 1983 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted once again by Pritchard. Richard Lewis as Idomeneo in this recording has a gracious sense of style and carries the day.

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