Le Nozze Di Figaro (Blu-ray), Bel Air Classiques, Music & Performance

Recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in June 2004, this Le nozze di Figaro was unanimously acclaimed by public and critics alike as a Mozart opera landmark. Director Jean-Louis Martinoty brings an elegantly intelligent narrative sense to an interpretation in which the protagonists, against a backdrop of magnificent canvases of 18th-century inspiration, are dressed by Sylvie de Segonzac in a palette in which every shade is perfect. Hans Schavernoch's set suggests an elitist society that is coming apart at the seams. René Jacobs's conducting of Concerto Köln is meticulous and perfectly balanced, offering a ravishing use of tonal colour and orchestral dynamics. A veteran Almaviva, the excellent Pitero Spagnoli plays opposite Annette Dasch's beauteous Countess. As Figaro and Susanna, Luca Pisaroni and Rosemary Joshua are a truly sparkling couple, while mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager embodies the most divinely troubling of Cherubino. The exceptional quality of this production, and the great success encountered by it's first edition, inevitably led to the remastering in high-definition of this program, now and for the first time also available on Blu-ray.