W.A. MOZART

 

Mitridate, re di Ponto KV 87 (79)

Dramma per musica in tre atti

 

Libretto: Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi

 

Mitridate: Mathias Zachariassen

Aspasia: Henriette Bonde-Hansen

Sifare: Maria Fontosh

Farnace: Kristina Hammarström

Ismene: Lisa Larsson

Arbate: Sine Bundgaard

Marzio: Anders J. Dahlin

Vocal Group Ars Nova

Danish Radio Sinfonietta

Harpsichord: Richard Lewis

Adam Fischer

 

Mitridate, re di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus), K. 87 (74a), is an early opera seria in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine.

 

Mozart wrote Mitridate while touring Italy in 1770. It was first performed at the Regio Ducal Teatro, Milan, on the 26th of December 1770 (at the Milan Carnival). The opera was a success, having been performed twenty-one times despite doubts because of Mozart’s extreme youth - he was 14 at the time.

 

No revival took place until the 20th century. This opera features splendid virtuoso arias for the principal roles.

 

Mozart’s Mitridate is what literary scholars call a heroic historical drama, and the genre was considered the most prestigious theatrical form in the second half of the eighteenth century

 

“With a fresh-voiced young cast and orchestral playing of crackling energy, this Danish Radio recording eclipses its closest CD rival, from Leopold Hager (Philips). All the singers cope adroitly with Mozart's pyrotechnics and characterise as vividly as their music allows.” The Daily Telegraph on 8226069-71

 

DaCapo 3SACDs 6220580-82