The Most Congenial Figaro

Kitchen/cooking music for the past few weeks has been David McVicar's 2006 Covent Garden  Nozze di Figaro with Erwin Shrott, Miah Persson and others, which I've been playing over and over.  I don't suppose it is the most dazzling  Figaro ever achieved but I suspect it might be the most agreeable: warm-hearted, easy-going and funny.  Schrott nails his role in the lede as the ingenious scamp.  And Persson, his bride-to-be,  you just want to nibble from head to toe; so also Rinat Shaham as Cherubino if you have the stamina.    Mrs. B had seen Schrott play Don Giovanni (I hadn't); she marveled at his capacity to change character.    I thought Gerald Finley's Count was just  a smidge too good natured; the Count needs at least a hint of menace; Mrs. B thinks I am taking it all too seriously.

The piece itself of course is one of those that just never fails; you (or at least I) can always find something you didn't see or her before  Obviously I am not alone in my opinion; you can find an array of enthusiastic review/excerpts here.

Sad to say, I did not see this presentation live. But I did see my first Figaro at Covent Garden back in '76: I think generously state-subsidized orchestra seats cost us less than $10 a head. I enjoyed that one too, although I certainly can't say I understood it as well.