Così fan tutte

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, libretto by Da Ponte

seen at Cadogan Hall on 6 November 2019

Ian Page conducted The Mozartists in a concert performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte with Ana Maria Labin as Firodiligi and Emily Edmonds as Dorabella, Matthew Swensen as Ferrando and Benjamin Appl as Guglielmo, Rebecca Bottone as Despina and Ricard Burkhard as Don Alfonso.

There are of course no distracting directorial interventions in a concert performance: here we have just the undiluted pleasure of Mozart's music performed by an excellent group of soloists and an orchestra currently dedicated to performing all Mozart's work in sequence 250 years after composition. Heard in such circumstances, with occasionally racy surtitles to clarify the story, it was an enjoyable evening, and refreshing after the unfortunate tussles between directorial and compositional interest too often witnessed nowadays (see my comments on two recent ENO productions).



Nonetheless, the story is important, and its ramifications cannot be other than disquieting. It's all very well for the programme notes to comment on the debunking of romantic sentimentality; certainly the pairs of lovers are naively conventional in their protestations at the beginning, and Don Alfonso's cynicism is not really misplaced. But the nature of the 'trick' the boys play on the girls proves a very one-sided point: women may be fickle in their attentions, but nowhere is the idea of falsely flirting with one's fiancée's sister called into question as a breach of fidelity or even good manners. A director might be able to make this point, even if only momentarily, at the final reconciliation - the marriages will surely be rocky without some degree of self-awareness on the part of the men, or deserved criticism of them on the part of the women.

In a concert performance any acting (especially inter-acting) is severely restricted, though individual arias allow for a good deal of localised self-expression. Ana Maria Labin gave a wonderful account of pained doubt in her long aria, while Emily Edmond's more coquettish approach to life was nicely indicated by Emily Edmonds. In his turn, Benjamin Appl was smugly self-satisfied as Guglielmo while Fiordiligi resisted Ferrando, and somewhat shamefaced in breaking the news to his friend that Dorabella had accepted his gift, and then he exploded in rage when Ferrando at last caused Fiordiligi to succumb. Such extremes indicate a degree of self-obsession that is amusing to watch in the light-hearted frame constructed for this opera, though elsewhere Desdemona is destroyed for much less. (True that Otello is deceived by a villain, but there is plenty of deceit flying around here, too, and it's not really healthy.)

The worldly-wise cynicism of Don Alfonso the friend, and the opportunistic glee of Despina the servant (Rebecca Bottone in fine mocking form, and also camping up Despina's disguises with glee), undercut the dreamy protestations of the main quartet, and successfully cause their bubbles to be burst, but after all they too are developed from longstanding stage stereotypes, and one has to wonder whether the lessons learnt go far enough to guarantee future happiness. In the meantime, the performers gave a delightful account of the superb score, which almost succeeds in distracting the modern audience from reflecting on the issues behind the story.