Description:

Pros:

• Hanneke van Bork, a name I haven’t encountered before, delivers a remarkable performance as Sesto. Her voice skews more towards the soprano side of the vocal spectrum, highlighting the character’s youth.
• I thought that maybe there was a mistake when I saw that Elizabeth Harwood was singing Vitellia and Anne Evans Servilia considering that Harwood specialized in lighter roles and Evans would go on to be a Brünnhilde of distinction. But in the end I was sold on it. Harwood delivers dramatic bite I have not heard from her and Anne Evans’s luscious soprano gives the character Servilia more substance than you might get from your garden variety soubrette soprano. Her “S’altro che lagrime” is lesson in great Mozart singing. What makes her achievement doubly impressive is the fact that she was still a student at the Geneva Conservatory at the time of this performance.

Cons:

• I don’t know if Herbert Handt was having a bad day, but he struggles in the role of Tito. During his arias in particular his vocal discomfort is unmistakable.

In Mono

OD 12023-2