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Magdalena Kožená has become renowned for her Mozart interpretations, and justly so - she was dazzling in Charles Mackerras' new recording of La clemenza di Tito earlier in the year, for example.
But for me, this new selection of Mozart arias is only partly successful, the main reason being that too many of the arias are unsuitable for Kožená's voice. She possesses an ideal mezzo soprano, with a richness in the middle and on the bottom, but the soprano extension simply isn't there.
She just about gets away with Susanna's aria from Figaro, thanks to the brisk tempo set by conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who also happens to be her husband in real life. But the concert aria 'Ch'io mi scordi di te?', explicitly written for a soprano voice, is beyond her capabilities at the top, despite some exciting tone in the lower register.
The disc's real low point, however, is Fiordiligi's aria 'Per pietŕ' from Cosě fan tutte. This is a showcase for a singer with an enormous range, especially in the highest tessitura, but Kožená does not posses this in the slightest. Rattle also seems to inspire some painfully uneven notes from the horn player of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: it may be one of the hardest instruments to play, but are such tortured sounds really necessary on a record?
One of the album's missed opportunities is Cherubino's aria 'Voi che sapete', which is sung in a peculiar arrangement with embellishments by Domenico Corri. These result in a repulsive distortion of one of Mozart's most beautifully simple arias, and Kožená's coloratura is rather taxed by it. A shame, because the role suits her down to the ground: Cherubino's other aria, 'Non so piů', is sung normally later on the disc, and it's a dream.
An alternative version of Susanna's aria, written for the 1789 revival of Figaro, is included as the final track on the disc, and here one is grateful for the opportunity to hear slightly less familiar fare. The music seems to lie more easily for Kožená than Susanna's conventional aria – the same has been noted of Cecilia Bartoli - and this is one of the highlights of an uneven disc.
I rather like this characterful performance of Despina's aria, cheekily and boisterously done with ravishing accompaniment from the OAE. Dorabella's aria is sung with more security than Fiordiligi's, though even here the lack of a full bloom on the highest notes is deeply felt.
Similarly, I've no idea why she chooses to sing Vitellia's aria 'Non piů di fiori vaghe catene', another soprano aria, nor why the co-ordination with the OAE is so poor at times. The remainder of the tracks are pleasant and technically adequate, but on the whole this is a very mixed affair.
Kožená's voice is as devastatingly beautiful as her physique, but she lets herself down by picking repertoire that one assumes she will never sing in the theatre. One for the fans only.
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