From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1989: The international bass Laszlo Polgar joins a strong Scandinavian cast, including Stefan Dahlberg, Petteri Salomaa and Mikael Samuelsson, for this production, directed by Göran Järvefelt and conducted by Arnold Östman. Their authentic staging of the opera, held to be Mozart’s artistic – and philosophical testament, has an atmosphere of naive enchantment and was hailed as “…revelatory …liberating in the sense that it released the opera from the assumptions of the twentieth century” (The Independent). (Sung in German)
La clemenza di Tito
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1987: For his last opera, written for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia in 1791, Mozart used a formal opera seria libretto by Metastasio, but at ist heart are intimate scenes of intense emotional conflict. This recording shows the producer “Järvefelt at his best… the whole evening – authentic but bristling with theatrical life – was a shining example of everything Drottningholm stands for” (Financial Times). (Sung in Italian)
La finta giardiniera
From the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1988: “The new production of La finta giardiniera at Drottningholm fully justified producer Goran Järvefelt’s and conductor Östman’s faith in the opera. It proved not only an evening of rare enchantment, but an instructive argument for period performance of Mozart” (The Independent). Britt-Marie Aruhn sings the role of the Countess, who disguises herself as a gardener in order to find and forgive her lover, who has fled, thinking he has killed her in a quarrel. (Sung in Italian)