Mozart: Idomeneo

Bolton, Ivor, Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Real Madrid

OA 1317 D

Eric Cutler - Idomeneo, David Portillo - Idamante, Anett Fritsch - Ilia, Eleonora Buratto - Elettra, Benjamin Hulett - Arbace, Oliver Johnston - High Priest of Neptune, Alexander Tsymbalyuk - The Voice of Neptune • Mozart’s Grecian opera is transported to the present day • Mozart’s third venture into ‘opera seria’, demolished the genre’s traditional boundaries and paved the way for lyric drama. Blending youthful earnestness with mature mastery, Mozart uses - while profoundly changing - the elements of a genre based on arias that come one after another with no real concern for dramatic progression. The importance and expressive power of the choruses, influenced by the operatic reforms of Gluck, foreshadows The Magic Flute. Idomeneo is often regarded as Mozart’s first masterpiece for the opera house. • After the fall of Troy, King Idomeneo can finally dream of returning to his homeland after a long absence, during which his son Idamante ensured the continuity of his reign and guarded Trojan prisoners, including Ilia, King Priam’s daughter. To escape from a terrible storm that is keeping him from reaching Crete, Idomeneo promises Neptune to sacrifice the first living being he encounters upon landing. Unfortunately, it is his own son who greets him in his native land. Ilia, by offering her own life in exchange for that of Idamante, whom she loves and who loves her, convinces Neptune to yield and to deliver Idomeneo from his fateful vow.

DVD x 1

Opus Arte

3/27/20

0809478013174

MusicWeb International: 'Nominee for Recording of the Year' (2020)
MusicWeb International: 'Recommended' (2020)