Title: Better than expected
Review: I doubt this would be anyone's choice Cosi but the staging worksvery well even if it is in many ways indebted to Sellars classicDespina's cafe. Now the opera is set in a sort of Club med(the note's say 1960s youth hostel) so I sort of expected disaster.None of the singers is vocally impeccable but they aren't bad either.De Niesse's Despina is terrific. Though not immune to the complaintsof lack of support on top, Despina doesn't demand as much vocally butshe is perfect as a sort of camp companion. What is best is thescore is given complete which isn't the case in most DVD productions.I can't understand how Muti who insists on including every inkblotin verdi, cuts Mozart. It shows how Mozart and Da Ponte knew exactlywhat they were doing. Shankle might be a real find-- he sings allthree arias quite well. No one in the cast has a perfect trill.Still, the sum is more than the parts --it works as a concept morethan any other cosi I have ever seen.
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