Cosi fan tutte

Synopsis

Two officers wager that their lovers would be faithful while they're away, and decide to test them. Faking a sudden departure to battle they return disguised to try and seduce each other's partners. The results quickly get out of hand.

Our Review:

11 September 2010

The programme for Jonathan Miller’s staging of Mozart’s third Da Ponte opera includes some neatly reasoned apologias for the tale’s dubious morals and its implication that a woman’s place is in the wrong. In the end, though, it’s the performance itself that best defends this marvellous opera. This seventh revival proves that with the right director, conductor and singers, no excuses are needed for Così fan tutte.

Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock makes a confident house début and presents the work as a cohesive entity rather than the parade of set pieces we sometimes hear. There have been evenings when the lengthy running time, shared among just six singers, has felt like a surfeit of sweetmeats; here, though, three and a half hours fly by. The odd plodding tempo early on is entirely forgotten by the interval as hints of tension (perhaps occasioned by the first night’s worldwide cinema relay?...

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