Gemitaiz Noi Siamo Così

The old philosopher Don Alfonso enrages his two friends, the officers Ferrando and Guglielmo, with his claim that their fiancées will sooner or later be unfaithful to them - like all women. He proposes a wager, which the two friends accept. They swear on their honour as soldiers that they will prove him wrong and that Dorabella and Fiordiligi are not like “all women”. The immaculately restored eighteenth-century Court Theatre at the country residence of the Swedish Royal Family is the ideal home for period opera. Ever since Drottningholm Court Theatre was rediscovered in the 1920s, it has served as a living memorial to the fabulous extravagance of courtly entertainment and provided the wherewithal for the recreation of the spectacular scenic transformations of the seventeenth and eighteenth century operatic repertoire.

Mozart's ever-popular opera of young love tested in a searching Salzburg production with the Vienna Philharmonic.
A superb cast of lovers is lead by Ana María Martínez and Sophie Koch as the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, with Shawn Mathey and Stéphane Degout as the suitors who test their devotion. English baritone Sir Thomas Allen and American soprano Helen Donath bring all their experience of Mozart on stage to the roles of the wise Don Alphonso and the all-seeing maid Despina.

The singers are all good, the orchestra light, lively and evocative. But it is above all Patrice Chereau's direction that makes this production one of the best filmed opera experiences I have had. This is a fairly long opera (about 3 hours), but it flies by in this version with rapid and telling movement on stage and in the pit, and with a constantly moving camera. Chereau's is an expectedly dark interpretation, both modern and classical, that refuses to play up the buffo elements and achieves a remarkably heart-rending, bittersweet effect. The singers are all well-coached actors; we are never allowed to forget that we are watching a performance (occasional views of the conductor in the pit) but that doesn't mar the emotional impact of one of Mozart's most touching scores. Period costumes on what is made to seem to be a bare, ancient Italian stage..

“Muti's fizzing (1983) Salzburg Festival recording is fully traditional and visually a delight, with elegant sets and costumes…It is good to watch a completely fresh performance that carries out Mozart's intentions visually as well as musically. The recording itself is very lively and open, the voices resonant.” Penguin Guide, 2010

When this staging was presented in 1992, in various theatres, Gardiner decided to be his own director because he didn't trust any available alternative to be faithful to Da Ponte's and Mozart's original. In the circumstances his was a sensible decision because his deeply discerning stage interpretation perfectly seconds his own musically perceptive reading. His keen understanding of what this endlessly fascinating work is about is made plain in his absorbing essay in the booklet.