Cosi Fan Tutte is the most duplicated work in my library and now I must have close to 40 versions.
This supreme masterpiece always draws the best from it´s performers, I can´t think of a half hearted effort in the vast discography. Certainly not from Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis who admirably managed to get SONY to record in studio the Da Ponte trilogy, something that not even William Christie managed in Harmonia Mundi and then in ERATO.
Of course recording in Perm, in the middle of the Urals must have helped, it must be very cheap.
Currentzis like in the previously issued Le Nozze di Figaro, got several weeks of rehearsal to polish every little detail, probably not since the times of Walter Legge and John Culshaw, a studio recording got these many rehearsals. The time was well spent, everybody seems on his toes, unusually but quite correctly Currentzis allows appoggiaturas [not written decorations in the arias usually improvised by the singers]. There is an unanimity of purpose from all and it is a very fine performance, so where does it stand?
Difficult to say, the competition is tremendous. Among HIP versions I like better the superb René Jacobs, it´s as well rehearsed and prepared and his singers are in general better, and in the case of the Fiordiligi much better. Simone Kermes for Curretzis is an acquired taste: the voice is thin and somewhat characterless, the role lies low for her, she manages the low notes as whispers, but I feel this live wouldn´t work. Fortunately she sings the role straight, without her usual eccentricities, but hell, there are so many divine Fiordiligis [Lisa della Casa, Lella Cuberli, Margaret Price, Leontyne Price, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Gundula Janowitz, Kiri Te Kanawa, Montserrat Caballé and yes, Vèronique Gens for Jacobs] that one has to say that La Kermes just doesn´t belong to their ranks. The Dorabella is much more pleasing, Malena Ernman is a singer to watch, the voice is attractive, and she tries to be lively, but she too can´t erase memories of goddesses like Teresa Berganza, Frederica von Stade, Christa Ludwig or Tatiana Troyanos, but in her own terms she does well. The Despina is even better, Anna Kasyan sings well as is very funny, an enjoyable performance. Tenor Kenneth Tarver also sings well but lacks personality, especially when compared with super star tenors like Leopold Simoneau, Alfredo Kraus, Luigi Alva, Francisco Araiza and Hans-Peter Blochwitz. The role of Ferrando is fiendishly difficult, in the XIX Century no less than Rubini had it in his repertoire, now tenors seem more capable of solving the technical difficulties, Tarver sounds very comfortable indeed, but a more positive and memorable personality is missing. The Don Alfonso, Konstantin Wolff, is another competent but slightly unmemorable performer. You just have to hear a Sesto Bruscantini or a Gabriel Bacquier to see how much more you can get from the role. And last but not least, Christopher Maltman as Guglielmo is the one performance I liked a lot: virile, elegant, stylish and engaging, very fine indeed.
I was all the more disappointed that Guglielmo´s discarded aria "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo" was not included. Now many recordings have it, and since it´s so cheap to record in Perm, there´s no excuse for omitting it.
So, not a general recommendation in spite of a good recording because of the competition.
