Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) has always been a challenge to convincingly produce. It consists only of an overture and four musical numbers, hardly enough to make for a full operatic experience, even a brief one. This version, in a new edition with updated spoken dialogue by Eberhard Streul, though, is both musically and dramatically completely satisfying. This is the result of the wit of Streul's new texts, Otto Schenk's star turn in the speaking role of the Impresario, and the spirit of spontaneity and ...
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Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) has always been a challenge to convincingly produce. It consists only of an overture and four musical numbers, hardly enough to make for a full operatic experience, even a brief one. This version, in a new edition with updated spoken dialogue by Eberhard Streul, though, is both musically and dramatically completely satisfying. This is the result of the wit of Streul's new texts, Otto Schenk's star turn in the speaking role of the Impresario, and the spirit of spontaneity and comedy that the entire cast brings to the opera. Schenk is a born comedian, and based on the ongoing riotous laughter of the audience, he has them in his pocket from the moment he steps on-stage. The rest of the cast enters into the same sense of fun, and the little opera comes across as genuinely hilarious. Beginning with a nimble reading of the sparkling overture, Neville Marriner, leading the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, brings a supple playfulness to the score. The vocal...
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