These sets have two things in common—both present the score complete, both conductors want warmth and charm. Otherwise the Decca is in every way superior. The new Naxos comes in at a bargain-price so it should perhaps be treated indulgently, but few will surely want to accept Wildner's loveless view of the work, playing from the orchestra that is no more than adequate and a recording that is at once too reverberant and lacking in atmosphere. As some compensation the singing is perfectly respectable, especially where the upper voices are concerned. Borowska is a lively and characterful Fiordiligi who can cope competently with the role's vocal demands, though the tone in the middle of her voice occasionally discolours. John Dickie (son of the well-known Scottish tenor, Murray Dickie) is a capable Ferrando, who easily encompasses the high tessitura of his three arias, but isn't very affecting in expression. Priti Coles, a name new to me, is a sparkly Despina, but has superiors on other sets. The Dorabella is blowzy, the Guglielmo is woolly, the Alfonso rather ordinary. If you are short of cash you may be satisfied with this unremarkable but not uningratiating version, but you will do much better to save for a mid-price version—such as the still-competitive Solti set.
As I have suggested, Solti's own contribution isn't its most pleasing feature. There's plenty of life and vigour in the performance, but not much care for the niceties of the score or for its inner emotions. Solti too often seems keen to make dramatic points without caressing the music when that's needed. In the work's larger structures, the two long finales, he is at his best, as SS pointed out in his first review, controlling them tightly and providing buoyant rhythms—as indeed he does throughout. The set is almost exactly contemporaneous with the Sir Colin Davis version on Philips (also absolutely complete), and it's noticeable time and again how the younger conductor lavished love on the music, to its great benefit, where Solti is content with efficiency.
The singers on these two rivals from the mid-1970s complement each other. In short, the women are preferable on Philips, the men on Decca—which is sad when we could so easily have had at the time the best sextet on one or other version. Lorengar's Fiordiligi is affectingly interpreted and confidently delivered but the flutter can be troublesome—to others perhaps more than to me—and she yields to Caballe (Davis) in subtlety of phrase. Berganza sings with supple phrasing and firm tone but the expression on the face is too often a blank one when compared with Baker's vivid portrayal for Davis. Berbie pours plenty of colour and character into Despina's music but yield points to Cotrubas (Davis) in word-painting. Ryland Davies's Ferrando is keen and pleasing in tone, secure in line, a great improvement on Gedda (Davis), and particularly eloquent in eventually breaking down the vulnerable defences of Lorengar's Fiordiligi. ''Un' aura amorosa'' would yield to tenderer accents, but the two Second Act arias are faultless in delivery. Krause is a seductive and articulate Guglielmo, Bacquier among the most ebullient of Alfonsos, who makes the most of every opportunity—a performance that brings the singer's very individual presence into the home.
Some decorations are offered. The recitative is taken in lively fashion with Jeffrey Tate providing nice touches at the harpsichord. Decca provide plenty of 'production'—both movement across a wide spectrum and the equivalent of stage nudges (plus a few unwanted Solti thumps on the podium and a touch of pre-echo in a couple of places)—but the sound, especially when compared with the Philips, wants immediacy and is too distanced, pointing up the size of the LPO: too large a band given current tastes in Mozart. No need to rehearse again my appreciation of the Marriner/Philips and Haitink/EMI sets (both at full-price) expressed variously in recent issues (particularly last November). If you want a mid-price set that's complete this Solti has much to offer, but I understand that the Davis, still at full-price, is to be reissued at mid-price in the Philips Mozart Edition in October—when it would have my vote over Solti. In spite of that and my earlier strictures, maybe a shade on the severe side, I enjoyed hearing Solti's version again more than I expected, not least because it conveys a sense of joy on all sides in actually performing the piece—that counts for much.'