Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Overtures
Kölner Akademie/Michael Alexander Willens
rec. 2022, Deutschlandfunk Kammermusiksaal, Cologne, Germany
BIS BIS-2062 SACD [62]
From this collection of Michael Alexander Willens with the period instruments of the Kölner Akademie I select six overtures I consider the finest and present them in reverse order of rank, making comparison with other recordings,
My sixth choice is the tersely structured overture to Der Schauspieldirektor, a one act farce about performing an opera. Willens brings to its early climax (tr. 6, 0:29) an appealingly noble sunshine. His second theme has a winsome delicacy (0:43), his third more charm (1:04). In the development (1:26) Willens’ ability to convey the detail of the orchestration is appreciable, while the blazing apotheosis of the third theme (2:51) gratifies. I compare the Manchester Camerata/Gábor Takács-Nagy also recorded 2022 (review). Timing at 3:54 to Willens’ 4:16, his account is a stricter Presto but thereby his third theme has more push than charm. I prefer Willens’ more benign roundedness and lighter, more optimistic articulation.
My fifth choice is for local colour. Die Entführung aus dem Serail overture takes just seven seconds for the Turkish janissary music to erupt like a volcano showering triangle, cymbals and bass drum. A second tune (tr. 4, 0:53) gets the same treatment, while Mozart protects our hearing by constantly alternating soft and loud. The display finishes with a jolly coda (1:15). Before this all returns there’s an Andante dance (1:39), surprisingly gracious, led by oboe, like a demure ballerina fantastically wandering into and taking over the scene. Colin Davis’s 1999 recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden (review) is crisp, very precise in dynamics, with the soft strings’ passages of a silky, feathery quality. But I miss Willens’ wholehearted dazzle, uproariously bowling you over, yet finding ample respite too.
My fourth choice is Die Zauberflöte overture, its emphasis on the eagerness and energy of adventure. The Adagio opening is weighty and solemn, more so with Willens’ three period trombones, but with Willens you also feel a benevolent authority and the strings’ soft, respectful responses display gentleness. The Allegro main body is expectant, deft, energizing. The flutes lead the woodwind in flying freedom to an enthusiastic closing crescendo. The Adagio returns with the sonorous fanfares of ritual (tr. 12, 3:12). Not altogether straightforward, the strings in the Allegro cast briefly in the minor warier, but sustained notes by the oboe lead the promise of salvation. In an earlier review I praised Takács-Nagy. I now prefer Willens’ ability to reveal the drama of the music, where Takács-Nagy’s 2022 account in comparison now seems to me an admirably proficient display of the orchestra on its mettle while the guts of the opera rather recede.
My third choice is the Cosi fan tutte overture. The Andante introduction establishes the stylishness of the environment and quotes the opera’s motto, heard again at the end of the Presto main body (tr. 5, 0:40) which also quotes Basilio’s ‘Cosi fan tutte le belle’ from the Act 1 trio of Le nozze di Figaro. Enjoy the teeming running quavers of the Presto, playfully frisky from Willens, and constantly varied interplay between pairs of woodwind instruments. All the chatty quavers are further spurred by recurring driving tuttis. The detailed orchestral texture Willens clarifies is a joy. The coda exults in a grand moment of satisfying resolution and wonderful timpani flourish. I compare Takács-Nagy also recorded in 2022 (review). This, particularly the woodwind quavers, is beautifully articulated but thereby falls short a little in momentum and gusto in comparison with Willens.
My runner-up choice is Le nozze di Figaro overture, not quoting tunes in the opera, none appear, but establishing attitudes to watch for. The furtive bustling of servants in gossamer quaver runs, the woodwind opening-out like drawing the curtains, then the explosion of a tutti throng of activity which Willens makes astonishing. The second phase (tr. 3, 0:51) zooms in on filigree work in the strings decorated by the first violins, then cascades of rising and falling quavers shared by chirruping oboe and flute. Soon, ensuring your alertness, spasms of loud chords propel activity (1:06) with a falling phrase response in the first violins transformed into a rising phrase on bassoons, violas and cellos (1:15). Forthcoming comedy is promised in the first bassoon’s expansion of this phrase (1:30), sadly barely audible, better done second time (3:09) yet still with room for cheekier staccato articulation. Meanwhile a third phase has brought a perky, dancing tune (1:35). Thus, Willens visualises lots of characters determined to leave their mark. I compare another period instrument orchestra, Le Concert de la Loge/Julien Chauvin, recorded in 2021 (Alpha 776). Timing at 3:53 to Willens’ 4:19, Chauvin’s is a crisp, virtuoso account of breathtaking brilliance. The opening servants anxious but determined, the tuttis fiery, the atmosphere tense, bassoon solos always admirably clear, the coda exciting. This shock-horror approach doesn’t invite you to stay for the opera, like Willens.
My top choice is the Don Giovanni overture which brings immediately before us uncontrollable forces in Willens’ Andante introduction: blistering D minor tuttis of raw, baleful power with pleadingly soft contrasts of woodwind chords and chilling bottom A from the period bassoons (tr. 9, 0:34). Soon we’re into sforzando explosions, before a restless undulating movement in semiquavers from flutes and first violins brings into daylight the tension (1:18). The Molto Allegro main body theme in D major, politely opening, soon grows in hope as of an optimistic hero (1:45) and the undulations become positive. The contrast now is the power of descending bludgeoning tuttis meeting the finesse of almost stationary but eyelashes’ flickering first violins (2:27). You remember these impressions Willens makes vivid and are uneasily eager regarding the future. I compare Davis (review) who finds a more searing opening, punch and horizontal orchestral detail, the undulating motif more tense, the Molto Allegro more exciting. Davis secures more dynamic contrast and swinging momentum. His descending tuttis are at first playful, but their weight grows more ominous. Yet I miss Willens’ conveying of future unease. And that’s his achievement: to illuminate fully Mozart’s skill in making you want to listen beyond the overture.
Michael Greenhalgh
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Contents:
Ascanio in Alba, K111 (1771)
Idomeneo, K366 (1781)
Le nozze di Figaro, K492 (1786)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K384 (1782)
Cosi fan tutte, K588 (1789)
Der Schauspieldirektor, K486 (1786)
Mitridate, re di Ponto, K87 (1770)
La finta giardiniera, K196 (1774-5)
Don Giovanni, K527 (1787-8)
Lucio Silla, K135 (1772)
La Clemenza di Tito, K621 (1791)
Die Zauberflöte, K620 (1791)
