Any veteran Così Fan Tutte fan can think of individual singers he might prefer to those in the Met’s current revival, an early shot in the company’s 250th-birthday salute to Mozart. But the Met has fielded a strong multinational cast that performs seamlessly under James Levine’s direction: Barbara Frittoli, Magdalena Kozená, Nuccia Focile, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Thomas Allen. What is it about this opera that always seems to turn Levine from an enigma into a truly great conductor? I don’t believe there is another work to which he responds so totally and completely. Sheer musical excellence is what drives this Così, one of those now-I-can-die-happy performances that comes along rarely, either live or on disc.
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