Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Highlights) / Kleiber

Erich Kleiber's magically sympathetic, spirited, and incandescent recording of what may be Mozart's most perfect opera has long been the catalog benchmark for this work. Unfortunately, the full recording has again gone out of print; until Universal/Polygram decides to reissue, this compilation of highlights will have to do. But it makes an excellent introduction to the opera, especially for anyone setting out to discover the miraculous, myriad ways in which Mozart could translate emotions and dramatic complications into music. Just listen to the resonance of arias such as "Porgi amor" and "Dove sono" and you'll get a flavor of Mozart's intuitive grasp and portrayal of human nature: these are the qualities that have secured his position as the Shakespeare of opera (his own favorite genre for which to compose, in fact). The cast represents several voices from one of opera's golden ages of singing. Kleiber molds and shapes the long lines of Mozart's lyricism with unfailing mastery, and--as you can readily hear in the overture--infectiously sets the composer's irrepressible high spirits loose in a sparkling but never unbridled account. --Thomas May