Telegraph, 3 May 2005
Rupert Christiansen
Mozart: La clemenza di Tito, London May 2005
Triumph of ideology over emotion
Rupert Christiansen reviews (Birmingham Opera Company's Ulysses Comes Home and) Zurich Opera's La clemenza di Tito
Zurich Opera's hugely successful series of one-off performances at the Festival Hall continued with a fresh interpretation of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, in which the recitatives were delivered as spoken dialogue - the music for them was probably written by Sussmayr, Mozart's pupil, and can therefore be considered inauthentic.

Franz Welser-Most adopted some very slow tempi, but shaped the music eloquently and drew exquisite orchestral playing. With her light, flexible soprano, Eva Mei made Vitellia first cousin to the Queen of the Night, in marked contrast to the exuberant charm of Susan Graham's Sesto. Jonas Kaufmann miraculously breathed character into the marmoreal figure of Tito, and in the small role of Publio, a superb young bass, Günther Groissböck, gave promise of greatness to come.
 






 
 
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