Le nozze di Figaro

 

Mozart Le nozze di Figaro to libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Directed 2006 by Claus Guth at the Salzburg Festival (Haus für Mozart).   Stars Anna Netrebko (Susanna), Ildebrando D'Arcangelo (Figaro), Bo Skovhus (Conte di Almaviva), Dorothea Röschmann (Contessa), Christine Schäfer (Cherubino), Marie McLaughlin (Marcellina), Franz-Josef Selig (Bartolo), Patrick Henckens (Basilo), Oliver Ringelhahn (Don Curzio), Florian Boesch (Antonio), Eva Liebau (Barabrina), and Uli Kirsch (mute role). Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker and Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Andreas Schüller). Continuo: harpsichord, Stefan Fottfried; cello, Franz Bartholomey. Stage and costume design by Christian Schmidt; choreography by Ramses Sigl; lighting by Olaf Winter. Directed for TV by Brian Large. Sung in Italian. Released 2008, disc has 5.1 PCM and 5.1 dts-HD sound. Grade: B

Per Work Gordon Smith:

“This title has a superb cast including Anna Netrebko as Susannah and Dorothea Röschmann as the Countess. But it's severely marred by several problems. First, it's staged in some kind of Strindbergian stairwell. It also introduces a new character—a mute, semi-adolescent cherub (in addition to Cherubino) who prances about interfering with the action and the singing—even climbing all over Figaro (Ildebrando d'Arcangelo) at one point. So I would perfer the Royal Opera House version. The Salzburg is, nevertheless, a great performance vocally.”

Here's an official clip about this production. You may have forgotten what Netrebko looked like when she was skinny: