Lucio Silla, K. 135, was composed by Mozart when he was 16, and it is not often heard. The opera received its premieres in the U.S. and Britain only in the 1960s. So this 2022 recording, based on a live 2016 production from the Theater an der Wien, is most welcome. The cast, headed by countertenor Franco Fagioli as the assassination-minded Roman senator Cecilio and Alessandro Liberatore in the title role of the emperor Lucio Silla (Lucius Sulla), is very strong, although soprano Olga Pudova in the role of the desired Giunia ...
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Lucio Silla, K. 135, was composed by Mozart when he was 16, and it is not often heard. The opera received its premieres in the U.S. and Britain only in the 1960s. So this 2022 recording, based on a live 2016 production from the Theater an der Wien, is most welcome. The cast, headed by countertenor Franco Fagioli as the assassination-minded Roman senator Cecilio and Alessandro Liberatore in the title role of the emperor Lucio Silla (Lucius Sulla), is very strong, although soprano Olga Pudova in the role of the desired Giunia is overly fluttery. The sleazy flavor of the plot is done justice by conductor Laurence Equilbey, leading her period-instrument Insula Orchestra. Though better known for French Romantic music, Equilbey shows herself a superior historical-performance Mozart interpreter here, with meaty period brass and winds given just the right prominence in the texture. Best of all, the performance captures the sweep of Lucio Silla, the first Mozart opera to show the breadth of his ambitions....
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