Verdi: Falstaff 2015

“The whole world is a jest, man was born a great jester…” So goes the brilliant conclusion to Verdi’s Falstaff, an opera inspired by Shakespeare’s beloved comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. The virtuosic score requires a particularly talented cast, not to mention a truly exceptional conductor. Herbert von Karajan perfectly fits the bill, and this performance featuring the Wiener Philharmoniker and an all-star group of singers is clearly worthy of Verdi’s powerful work, a masterpiece whose comic facade thinly veils the complex and sometimes even tragic characters’ struggles. Recorded in 1982. Re-released 2015.

Salzburg Marionette Theatre: The Marriage of Figaro 1995

With the opera "Le nozze di Figaro" commenced the remarkably successful cooperation between Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. The first night of "Figaro", presumably Mozart's most perfect musical comedy, was held in Vienna on May 1st, 1786. It is based on Beumarchais' "scandalous" comedy "La Folle Journée ou Le Mariage de Figaro" which, after its first staging in the pre-revolutionary Paris of 1784, soon became a huge success throughout Europe. For the opera, the revolutionary content of the intricate comedy of love and conspiracy against the background of noble capriciousness was actually toned down but not completely abandoned. The extensive ensemble scenes, the treatment of the orchestra and the delicately nuanced musical profiles of the characters hit the target and, looking back, proved to be pioneering for following generations of musicians.

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