Perhaps no opera is as closely and affectionately associated with a single house as Le nozze di Figaro is with Glyndebourne. Effortlessly witty yet shot through with pain and sadness, this deeply ambivalent life in the day of masters and servants as they scheme and outwit one another was Glyndebourne's opening production in 1934. Michael Grandage's staging is the seventh, set in a louche Sixties ambience.
Press Reviews
"... this is a Figaro of rare grace, naturalness and charm. Robin Ticciati's conducting is seamlessly complementary. The cast amounts to a classic Glyndebourne ensemble. Sally Matthews sings the Countess's arias with perfect poise, while Lydia Teuscher makes a delightfully practical Susanna. Audun Iversen and Vito Priante are well-matched as the Count and Figaro, while Isabel Leonard is an enchanting disco-bunny of a Cherubino. The rest of the cast is terrific, and the whole thing moves like lightning. Pure joy. " (The Daily Telegraph)
" .... Glyndebourne does Figaro so well – it's a smasher, with a wonderful young cast that is typical of Glyndebourne at its best. The production grows in strength as the evening proceeds, with the staging of the almost incomprehensible last act comedy of mistaken identities in the garden the most effective I can recall. The cast is strong throughout, and there is so much to thrill to. Lydia Teuscher, Vito Priante and Audun Iversen as Susanna, Figaro and the Count, are all splendid vocally and play their wonderful games with rare gusto. As the Countess, Sally Matthews is just perfection, physically and vocally. Her 'Porgi amor' is breathtakingly beautiful and why her philandering husband would want to stray is beyond me. She is a Countess who quite falls for Isabel Leonard's spunky Cherubino – this as fine a portrayal as I can recall since Teresa Berganza at Covent Garden 49 years ago. Leonard is making her Glyndebourne debut (as is Iversen) and this house has shown once more – as so often in the past – how deft it tends to be at finding the brightest and best of the stars of the future." (Gramophone)
"Grandage's 2011 Glyndebourne production excels where it matters: in the truthfulness and warmth of these very human characters' interrelationships...Priante is simply the best [Figaro] I've seen...Ticciati, drawing a non-stop vivacity from the OAE, with horns splendidily vivid, gives his singers space when they need it. " (BBC Music Magazine ★★★★)
"The absolutely natural stage action eschews slapstick and vulgarity and the singers seem more than happy to adapt...[Priante's] stage presence and singing are extraordinary...Teuscher's Susanna is a rich-voiced, non-soubrette, observant Countess-in-the-making...Leonard's Cherubino is perfect - boyish and sassy and nimble. " (International Record Review)
Cast
Sally Matthews (Countess Almaviva)
Vito Priante (Figaro)
Audun Iversen (Count Almaviva)
Lydia Teuscher (Susanna)
Isabel Leonard (Cherubino)
Ann Murray (Marcellina)
Andrew Shore (Bartolo)
Sarah Shafer (Barbarina)
The Glyndebourne Chorus, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Robin Ticciati
Production
Company: Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Stage Director: Michael Grandage
Television Director: Francois Rousillon
Disc Information
Catalogue Number: OABD7118D
Date of Performance: 2012
Running Time: 192 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1080i High Definition / 16:9
Subtitles: EN; FR; DE; JP; KO
Label: Opus Arte
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