This is the fourth in the series of Mozart opera recordings from the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden masterminded by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Rolando Villazón. The last of the da Ponte comedies to appear, it’s a faint disappointment after the excellence of Don Giovanni (12/12) and Così fan tutte (11/13): Nézet-Séguin has shown himself to be a good Mozartian but there are one or two places here where – how to put it? – the drama slips through his fingers. It’s not so much a question of speed, his tempi being pretty much ideal, as of weight. The bars before Antonio bursts in with his ruined carnations, the climax of ‘Dove sono’, even the Countess’s last entrance in the garden scene: all fail to make much of an impact. And although Nézet-Séguin produces a good crescendo in the teasing exchange between Figaro and the Count in the Act 2 finale, the clinching phrase about Cherubino’s commission – and here I think he does take the section too fast – doesn’t bring about a sense of release. The COE play beautifully; the secco recitatives are accompanied by cello and fortepiano, the latter also to be heard – never intrusively – in some of the arias and ensembles.

The cast is led by Luca Pisaroni and Christiane Karg. Pisaroni’s dark-toned Figaro is dangerous in ‘Se vuol ballare’, bitter in ‘Aprite un po’ quelgi occhi’. The dotted rhythm of ‘Non più andrai’ is foot-tappingly crisp and his pacing of the recitative when plotting with Susanna and the Countess is exemplary. As Susanna, Karg moves effortlessly from the spirited girl of Act 1 – there’s some delightfully playful decoration to the last phrases of the second duet – to a tender, womanly account of ‘Deh vieni’. She blends perfectly with the Countess in the Letter Duet. Unlike her colleagues, Sonya Yoncheva doesn’t ornament her arias, not even essaying a lead-in to the reprise of ‘Dove sono’; but her open-throated singing is glorious. Interestingly, she doesn’t display the usual irritation with Susanna in the dressing-up scene. Thomas Hampson, though, gets quite violent towards Cherubino. He makes an authoritative Count but tends to sing sharp when being forceful. Angela Brower, a soprano-sounding mezzo, is a spirited, coltish Cherubino.

If you must cast a mezzo as Marcellina, omit the Act 4 aria. If you must include the aria, cast a soprano. It’s as simple as that; but the conductor casts a mezzo and includes the aria, so ‘Il capro e la capretta’ is transposed down by a minor third. Anne Sofie von Otter is fine elsewhere and she is well partnered by the formidable Bartolo of Maurizio Muraro. Rolando Villazón is amusingly camp in Basilio’s recitatives, and he crowns ‘In quegli anni’ with a ringing top B flat.

The traditional order of Act 3 is retained, the trial scene preceding ‘Dove sono’. As mentioned, there are some (nicely done) embellishments; appoggiaturas, too, though there’s a crucial one missing when the Count echoes ‘Poverino!’ in the Act 1 trio. Also missing is the slap in the Recognition Sextet. No applause; quiet laughter here and there. Not a vintage performance, then, but a more than acceptable addition to the series.