Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Idomeneo, Opera in 3 acts
Idomeneo: Andrew Staples (tenor)
Idamante: Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
Ilia: Sabine Devieilhe (soprano)
Elettra: Elsa Dreisig (soprano)
Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Runfunks/Sir Simon Rattle
rec. 2023, Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich
Italian/German libretto only accessible online
Reviewed as a download
BR Klassik 900215 [3 CDs: 180]
It is a while since we had a new recording of Mozart’s great opera seria Idomeneo, first performed in Munich in January 1781 a couple of days after his 25th birthday. Mozart had waited for a commission like this for a long time. It was perfect for him; he loved the genre and the orchestra and company at his disposal were outstanding. The Elector Carl Theodor had built up a truly fine and very famous orchestra in Mannheim then moved his court to Munich after the War of the Bavarian Succession. Mozart was to have the veteran tenor Anton Raaff (aged 66) in the title role. His voice was said to be of great beauty but of course by that stage in his career its glory was in decline He would also be able to cast the young castrato Vincenzo dal Prato as Idamante. Two members of the Wendling family would sing the soprano roles – and a couple more were in the orchestra. The premiere was conducted by Cannabich who had helped create that Mannheim sound and reputation.
It was in Munich again that the great revival in Mozart’s operas was initiated in the 1880s under Richard Strauss. After a trip to Bayreuth, what better than a sojourn further south in Bayern with a bit of Mozart in the evening? It caught on and soon became an annual festival. Here in Britain, we first saw Idomeneo in a first-rate production at Glyndebourne in 1951 conducted by Fritz Busch with Mancunian Richard Lewis in the title role. His cast was starry and many other legendary singers have been heard in the great four roles of this opera since. My colleague Ralph Moore has surveyed many recordings here. In terms of putting this new Munich recording to the test, however, I have compared it only to more recent recordings from the 1990s onwards and those with a mezzo Idamante. Mozart did re-write the part for tenor, but I prefer his original line written for dal Prato. There have been a few more audio recordings since RMo’s last entry in his survey and a couple of DVDs, too, and there is another omission for reasons that he makes clear in the survey.
It is curious that many of the best versions of Idomeneo are live, many off-air. There isn’t time or space to list them all, but I treasure the performances of Ozawa (Salzburg, 1990), Levine (Salzburg, 1983), Pichon (Aix, 2022) and Mackerras (Proms, 1991) as much as many of the established classics of the catalogue. Another point of note is how many of the great performances are by singers who have English as their first language; I am thinking of Richard Lewis, Stuart Burrows, Philip Langridge, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Rendall, Bruce Ford and more recently the likes of Eric Cutler, Matthew Polenzani and Michael Spyres. That said, I am well aware of the obvious merits of the warmer, Latin, honeyed tones of Pavarotti and Domingo who both excelled in the role.
Sir Simon Rattle made this concert performance of Idomeneo with the BRSO in his first season with them as chief conductor. He has been conducting the opera for forty years. In 1985 he led a season at Glyndebourne, taking over from Haitink, with the LPO. He was back in Sussex in 2003 this time with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Langridge sang in both productions. In the latter he also had Magdalena Kožená (not yet Lady Rattle) in the role she sings on this record. He has also given several concert performances in a range of cities. Most recently at the Berlin Staatsoper in 2023 he conducted Idomeneo with Andrew Staples in the title role, Kožená as Idamante, Anna Prohaska as Ilia and Olga Peretyatko as Elettra.
There are one or two issues with this new set but it is still an extremely fine account of the work. Sir Simon has clearly spent weeks with the singers and the orchestra, moulding and refining the reading. As usual, it is fresh, springy, and rhythmically alive. The sound is balanced excellently by the BR Klassik team led by Clemens Deller. One of the major disappointments in the Mackerras recording on EMI (Mr Moore’s unmentionable), is the sound which gives far too much prominence to the singers over the orchestra. Here, we have the perfect soundscape. The little continuo group springs along wonderfully underneath, too.
The Palatine court and audience Mozart was writing for would have been aware of the recent reforms in Italian opera seria which Mozart would adopt and push further. Mozart also had the luxury of a full wind band in Munich: pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. He employed four horns and even – for a couple of minutes – three trombones. The four principals get three set arias each spread out over the three acts and Arbace, Idomeneo’s confidant, gets a couple, too, for good measure – and the second is a real tour de force. There are some, but not many, concerted pieces, including a sublime duet between Idamante and Ilia and a quartet in which Mozart took special pride. The use of chorus is very special indeed and there is instrumental music, too, dances and marches. Mozart also wrote a ballet which is performed at the end of the work but often cut.
Unfortunately, Rattle’s new version of Idomeneo is not complete. If it had been, it might have been a contender for library choice, such is the quality of the singing and playing. The ballet is cut – a shame, as with this orchestra and the sound we are given, it would have been impressive, and there are little cuts to the recitative in places. More often than not, these seem to be in Idamante’s part but there are places like before Arbace’s solo scene in Act 3 where a cut involves other singers. Idamante’s last aria “No, la morte” is also missing – the only omission in terms of arias. It is quite a vigorous piece in the conventional ABA form, which even the lovely Lorriane Hunt Lieberson struggles with in the Mackerras version. These cuts are not a huge issue and on the other hand, we do get both Arbace’s arias, wonderfully sung by the young Linard Vrielink. Full versions of important set pieces like “Fuor del mar” and “D’Oreste” are important, too. I was also pleased that there is no funny business in the sound effects department: gods, storms and monsters appear in the orchestrations provided by Wolfgang Amadeus without the aid of any other sonic wizard-technology.
Andrew Staples sings Idomeneo. There is not so much of him on record; in 2024 he recorded Jephtha for Chandos (review) in the Maurice Greene version and he recently made a Britten disc in Sweden with Daniel Harding on Harmonia Mundi. His Gerontius has been well reviewed, and I see that he has also recently sung Florestan (Fidelio) and Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos). It took me a while to appreciate his assumption of the role of Idomeneo. His natural timbre is typically English and if I were being super-critical, I would say that there is some lack of warmth in his tone but there is also a lot to admire. He is noble and gentle in “Tranquillo è il mar” and his first aria “Vedrommi intorno” – and what a marvellous blended sound Rattle draws from his clarinets and bassoons here.
The Act 2 showpiece “Fuor del mar” is such a classic. Most of us will be aware of the famous 1917 record of Hermann Jadlowker. He sang it in German and was forty years of age at the time (Staples was 44 years old at the time of his recording). The orchestral part on that black label single side is a little cut but essentially the vocal part is intact. What a performance; the coloratura in full voice and those trills! Staples cannot match the fioritura that the great Jadlowker possessed, he aspirates some h’s and he cannot trill, but I suppose you can’t have everything and he is otherwise very fine; the long phrases, good breath control and a steady sostenuto are notable and he handles all those semiquavers in that repeated phrase “non cessa minacciar” admirably. If his voice does not have the allure of Pavarotti or Domingo, let us remember that they did not always attempt this fully ornamented version of the great aria. Staples is noble and magnanimous as he cedes his throne to Idamante at the last. His tender mezza voce is really lovely in “Torna la pace”.
I was a little disappointed with Magdalena Kožená in the role of Idamante. She is a bit unsteady in her first appearance and is careful and measured in her first aria “Non ho colpa”. She is better, though, in her second: “il padre adorato”. Her wide vibrato can sometimes resemble a wobble and does not sound fully under control. However, there are some compensations: she is very good in recitative – dramatic, heartfelt and sincere. Her best scene is the duet with Ilia: “S’io non moro”. She makes a perfect match with Devieilhe and the accompaniment from Rattle and the BRSO trips lightly.
The Cretans dealt with, let me move onto the pair of foreign Princesses who are the jewels of the set. In the main part of Ilia, we have Sabine Devieilhe. She is at her absolute peak at the moment and really delivers here. Her recent records reviewed here at MWI (review – review – review – review) tell a similar tale. She sang Ilia at Aix-en-Provence recently, too. Her three arias are all superb and she is excellent in her recitative and ensemble work. As an example, take her performance of the Act 2 aria “Se il padre perdei”, written for Dorothea Wendling in the original Munich staging. The music is achingly beautiful; Mozart writes for concertante winds and Dorothea’s husband played flute in the pit. Devieilhe is sweet and pure in her vocal outpouring, so honest, with not a hint of uncontrolled vibrato. She has the agility and lightness to suggest youth and purity. Her final aria is the famous “Zeffiretti lusinghieri” where she employs some charming pianissimos and added embellishments in the da capo.
Elettra is not so scary and unhinged a character as that created by Strauss but is still “sternflammende”, nonetheless. Here, that role is undertaken by Elsa Dreisig, at 32 years old, the youngest of our quartet. She sang with Devieilhe in that Mitridate I cited above and in this Orfeo ed Euridice. Here, she delivers a vibrant, even turbulent, account of the role of Elettra. She can tone it down, though, which she needs to in her Act 2 aria “idol mio”. Here, she sounds like Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, floating her “l’amante cor” superbly well. The ensuing scene with the chorus intoning “Placido è il mar” is equally delicious. In Act 3 she is back to being demented and Dreisig is up to it. Her furious “Oh, smania!” scene is give complete, with all the laughing and cackling too. This is a great Elettra. We also get a great Arbace; Vrielink will be one to watch. His messa di voce – the subtle swelling and diminishing of the tone – his diminuendos and crescendos, particularly in his second aria “Se colà ne” are all impressive. Unfortunately, he cracks on “Il re”. Could that not have been done again and edited in, over the supposed three days of performances?
As we have experienced on disc over the last few years, Sir Simon Rattle has a special chemistry with these players and this choir in Munich. The quality of the music making going on here is of the highest order. In summary then, we have a new Idomeneo of the first rank. I believe it is the best recording of the work since 2000 and I include Mackerras and Jacobs in that, despite having some reservations which I have outlined. Mackerras is complete and has the ballet though remember. Gardiner from a little earlier (review) is also very special to me. Levine’s version on DG with Domingo and Bartoli is always going to be up there too for many, and the casting has real depth. There is room in every collection for Idomeneo; if you do not have it, you should give this one serious consideration.
Philip Harrison
Other reviews: Michael Cookson (September 2025) ~ Mike Parr (October 2025)
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Other cast:
Arbace: Linard Vrielink (tenor)
High Priest of Neptune: Allan Clayton (tenor)
The Voice: Tareq Nazmi (bass)
