MOZART: Cosi fan tutte (Salzburger Festspiele, 1983) (NTSC)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte

Margaret Marshall, Ann Murray, James Morris
Francisco Araiza, Kathleen Battle
Sesto Bruscantini

Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Philharmoniker
Riccardo Muti, conductor

Michael Hampe, stage director

Recorded during Salzburg Festival 1983
at the Kleines Festspielhaus, Salzburg, August 1983

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: LPCM Stereo
Region code: 0 (All Region)
Booklet Languages: English, French, German
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Running time: 188 mins
No. of DVDs: 2

• In the anniversary year of Mozart's 250th birthday TDK will release several dramatically and musically high-ranking productions of Mozart operas. This DVD provides a closer look at a classical staging from the Salzburg Festival in TDK's series of important opera productions seen at the festival in the last decades.
  
  
• Riccardo Muti had made a sensational Salzburg début in 1971, but this Così fan tutte was his first Mozart opera at the festival, following almost a year after the death of the acclaimed Mozart interpreter Karl Böhm in Salzburg in 1981.
  
  
• It opened on 28 July 1982 (this DVD is a recording of a splendid Austrian television broadcast made in 1983) and was acclaimed by both the general public and international critics. Muti was praised for his authoritative approach to Mozart's music, while the remarkably homogeneous team of international soloists – including Scottish soprano Margaret Marshall and the Irish mezzo Ann Murray – was equally applauded. The production became a staple at the Salzburg Festival and hugely popular with audiences. It was revived until 1991 when it formed part of the celebrations to commemorate the bicentenary of Mozart's death.
  
  
• Director Michael Hampe narrates the action accurately and with an eye for detail. His handling of the characters allows Mozart's multi-layered musical characterization to shine through. Working closely with Riccardo Muti, he gives the singers time to savour the jokes in the text and to explore the music's range of interpretative possibilities.