ALBUM REVIEW

MOZART ARIAS. Excerpts from “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Cosi fan Tutte,” “Don Giovanni,” “La Clemenza di Tito”; concert arias K. 582, K. 578 and K. 505. Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano; Andras Schiff, piano; Vienna Kammerorchester, conducted by Gyorgy Fischer. London 430 513-2.

If Bartoli sounds on the stage as she does on this record, she must be one of the most formidable stylists and one of the most virtuosic technicians of our time.

Her timbre is warm, clear, pliant--that of a light mezzo-soprano reminiscent of Teresa Berganza and Giulietta Simionato. Bartoli’s enormous range seems to allow her comfort, however, even in the dramatic-coloratura flourishes of Vitellia and the lyric-soprano reveries of Susanna.

She commands a refined legato for Mozart’s long, arching phrases and sufficient agility to surmount the most awkward fioritura hurdles with accuracy and elegance. She commands dramatic instincts, moreover, that bring crisp definition to each of the characters at hand and to their vastly dissimilar expressive predicaments. She musters one voice for the breathlessly boyish Cherubino, another for the mischievous Dorabella, a third for the flirtatious Zerlina.

Bartoli also ennobles the great concert arias, most notably “Ch’io mi scordi di te?” (in which Schiff provides inspired collaboration at the keyboard). Her idiomatic articulation of the Italian texts adds telling nuances throughout.

Fischer and the Vienna chamber orchestra provide worthy accompaniment. Peter Schmidl performs the basset-clarinet and basset-horn obbligatos with flair.

A record to restore the faith.