Mozart - Idomeneo / Rolfe Johnson · von Otter · Martinpelto · McNair · N. Robson · Winslade · EBS · Gardiner
Mozart - Idomeneo / Rolfe Johnson · von Otter · Martinpelto · McNair · N. Robson · Winslade · EBS · Gardiner is a wonderful recording with the amazing conductor John Eliot Gardiner and the accomplished English Baroque Soloists playing on authentic instruments. There are so many good singers on this recording but if I have to pick on then I will say that Anne Soffie Von Otter is truly outstanding. Deutsche Grammophon has certainly not skimped on the book-let. The book-let is quite thick (167 pages) and cotains the entire lyrics of the opera. It also has a very well-written essay by Gardiner and many fine photographs. I gave this recording 5 well deserved stars.

John Elliot Gardiner's Idomeneo
I took the opportunity to listen again to Mozart's Idomeneo in anticipation of hearing this opera performed live by the Opera Lafayette at the University of Maryland in a few weeks. I have long known Idomeneo from the LP recording of the 1956 Glydenbourne Festival version conducted by Sir John Pritchard and featuring Lewis, Jurinac,Simoneau, and Udovick as the leads. (This version is still available.) I hadn't revisited the opera for too many years.

The 1993 recording, which I just heard and which renewed my love for the work, conducted by John Elliot Gardiner did much to bring Idomeneo to a broad public. The soloists include Anthony Rolfe Johnson in the title role, Annie Sophie von Otter as Idomeneo's son Idamante, Sylvia McNair as Ilia, and Hillevi Martinfelto as a passionate Electra. Gardiner conducts on period instruments and attempts to capture, to the extent possible, performances in Mozart's day. In addition, Gardiner's version utlizes the version of the score performed at the opera's 1781 debut. This score did not come to light until the 1980s and thus was unavailable for Sir John Pritchard's recording which introduced me to Idomeneo many years ago.

Idomeneo is a grand work which only in the past half-century has been recognized as belonging in the same company as Mozart's more famous operas. To me it has the marks of a coming-of-age work where Mozart reached and maintained his compositional maturity. Mozart composed it in 1781, in a matter of a few short months, while paying close attention to its staging and liberetto and to the foibles of his singers. Although Idomeneo owes a great deal to Gluck and Rameau, we hear Mozart throughout. Following the premier of this work, Mozart at the age of 25, moved to Vienna where he lived for the rest of his life. The late Stanley Sadie's recent biography, "Mozart the Early Years" (2006) concludes with a magisterial treatment of Idomeneo.

Idomeneo tells the story of how his subject, the King of Crete, makes a promise to Neptune to sacrifice the first person he meets on a deserted island in gratitude for his rescue from a storm. This person turns out to be Idomeneo's son, Idamante. Idomeneo tries to avoid his vow, and Neptune wrecks terror upon Crete. Then, when Idomeno attempts to perform the sacrifice, Idamante's lover, Ilia, offers herself in his stead. Neptune intervenes,(in a moment that recalls Gluck and foretells Don Giovanni) declares Idamante the King of Crete and Ilia his bride. Electra, a spurned would-be lover of Idamante, stalks off the stage after delivering an aria of great fury.

Idomeneo is full of some of the greatest music Mozart composed. The orchestral writing is predominant throughout, particularly in the recitive sections where Mozart generally uses a fully-developed orchestral accompaniment rather than a continuo. The work begins with a masterful overture, and, following the French tradition, there are orchestral interludes, marches, and dance scenes punctuating each of the three acts.

The most famous vocal work in the score is the quartet from Act III in which each of the principals, Idomeneo, Idamante, Ilia, and Electra, express their own widely diverging feelings while singing the same words. The work includes some grand choruses, including the concluding scene of triumph, some tranquil lyrical choral music, and scenes of terror and horror when the sea-monster sent by Neptune threatens Crete. Each of the principals has three great arias, including two arias full of rage sung by Idamante's spurned lover, Electra. Idomeneo's "Furor del Mar", Ilia's opening aria "Padre, germani, adio" and her second act aria "Se il padre perdei" are among the many memorable moments of the score.

In his standard work on Mozart, Alfred Einstein points out that "It is said that [Mozart] valued and loved Idomeneo most among all his works and this any true musician can easily understand." John Elliot Gardiner's recording offers a great entry to exploring this early masterpiece of Mozart.

Robin Friedman

A great lesser-known Mozart opera
The most popular of Mozart's operas range from 'The Marriage of Figaro' to 'The Magic Flute'; sometimes people will include 'The Abduction from the Seraglio' in that listing. Few extend the listing of great operas back to 'Idomeneo: King of Crete', but this is in many ways the logical starting point for observing Mozart's development as an opera composer.

As one scholar says, no two of Mozart's operas are alike -- while they share classifications and stylistic elements, they can each of them be considered sui generis in many respects. 'Idomeneo' was the first dramatic opera in Mozart's mature style; written while he was still in Salzberg, it attracted the attention of come in the musical court in Vienna. There are decidedly French qualities to 'Idomeneo', with influences apparent both in the composition and the anecdotal evidence from Mozart's contemporaries.

This particular piece includes a composite of most of Mozart's 1781 composition on 'Idomeneo', following a rediscovery of the original performance score. However, Mozart continued to edit the score, sometimes even in between performances one night from the next, so a 'standard' scoring is next to impossible to obtain on this opera.

The story is based on the ancient gods and goddesses, human frailty and foolishness, and, of course, love. Idomeneo makes a vow to sacrifice to the god Neptune should he be saved; he breaks his vow when it turns out his son will be the likely sacrifice. Meanwhile, Ilia, the daughter of Priam, king of the newly-destroyed city Troy, arrives as an already-tragic figure. Ilia falls for Idamante, son of Idomeneo, but is competing with the jealous Elettra, who does not wish there to be a Trojan queen of Crete. In the end, the gods will not be put off of their promised sacrifices, and while Idamante is saved, there is drama in unrequited love in several directions, and Idomeneo has to yield the throne in the end.

John Eliot Gardiner, conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists out of Queen Elizabeth Hall in London (1990), is one of the masters of classical music in the past generation. Anthony Rolfe Johnson is the lead as Idomeneo; Anne Sofie Von Otter sings the part of the young son, Idamante, in a part that might have been a castrati part in the past. Sylvia McNair is Ilia, Hillevi Martinfelto is Elettra, and Nigel Robson rounds out the major parts as Arbace, the king's advisor.

This live recording is a technical masterpiece, a bit thin in some pieces, but overall rather satisfying. Anne Sofie von Otter probably has the best overall performance here, but the others do a nice job as a group. There aren't many arias or parts for individuals to use to make stand-out impressions (that fault, if indeed it constitutes a fault, is the composer rather than the performers), as many are accustomed to finding in Mozart operas. The English Baroque Soloists are an interesting touch, but a fuller orchestra and scoring might serve better here.

Still, this is an Archiv production of Deutsche Grammophon, one of the leading lights in classical music recording.

what a review should be
I have much less to say about the opera than the review submitted by Tom Han from Texas. I think it's an outstanding exemplar of what an Amazon review should be. Keep up the excellent work!

GARDINER, RE DI CRETA.
Con Idomeneo comienza la madurez operística de Mozart. Aunque a la usanza de la gran ópera seria que ya apuntaba síntomas de vejez, el joven autor (25 años), lograba uno de sus mejores trabajos en el campo teatral. La historia del padre desesperado ya había sido puesta en música por Campra en 1712 y, a la experiencia mozartiana, le seguirán otros compositores (Gazzaniga, Paër, Farinelli y Federici). Sin embargo, pese a sus valores, Idomeneo no ha tenido la difusión teatral y discográfica que han conseguido los posteriores trabajos del autor. De las existentes en el mercado, es esta quizá la versión que mejor reúne todos los ingredientes para su disfrute. La orquesta (de instrumentos originales) clara, enérgica y pletórica de matices, se adentra en el clasicismo más puro y ofrece una lectura impresionante de la obra, al igual que el espléndido Monteverdi Choir. Los solistas destacan por su dominio del estilo y la belleza de sus voces. Se ha dicho que a Rolfe Johnson le falta de robustez vocal para enfrentar el personaje, pero ante tanta musicalidad y buen decir: ¿hace falta más? El Idamante de la Von Otter es el mejor de la discografía, sin lugar a dudas, y la Ilia de McNair es dulce y sutil. Martinpelto, con su Elettra, se aleja de las versiones "veristas" a las que nos han acostumbrado algunas cantantes, y no por ello resta dramatismo a su atormentado personaje. Si a todo esto añadimos una buena distribución de secundarios, excelente toma de sonido y que, como apéndice, podemos encontrar todo lo que Mozart suprimió en Munich y agregó a la versión de Viena, estoy seguro que no se tendrá dudas de coronar a esta lectura de Gardiner como la mejor de la discografía de este título mozartiano.