This is a further instalment in a series based on live performances at the Macerata Festival‚ conducted by Gustav Kuhn. This one took place as long ago as 1993. It benefits from Kuhn’s typically alert and detailed control of the score and his singers. His speeds are by and large‚ as is current practice‚ on the fast side but never in the exaggerated manner of some of his younger contemporaries. At all times he is alive to dramatic situation‚ always an essential in this lengthy work. Vocally the performance is uneven. Its greatest asset is undoubtably Albert Dohmen’s characterful‚ vibrantly sung‚ very present Count‚ wholly in command of his household if not of his own erotic feelings. His attempted seduction of Susanna is beguiling in tone and phrase‚ his anger in his aria when he realises he has been duped by his servants towering. His Countess is no less a singer than Barbara Frittoli‚ then at the start of her career. She is impressive both in her singing and her portrayal – ‘Dove sono’ is moving both in tonal and dramatic terms‚ a most delicate piano at the reprise – but she is not such an accomplished Mozartian as she has since become (no appoggiaturas or embellishments)‚ witness her recent Erato recital (9/01). Susanna and Figaro are less impressive than their masters. Antonucci is a lively and personable enough‚ but her tone is too often thin and/or acid. Rinaldi­Miliani’s tone tends to be too dull in timbre for such a forceful char­acter‚ but he is a pleasant enough Figaro. The Cherubino is no more than adequate. The smaller roles‚ with the Marcellina and Basilio granted their Act 4 arias‚ are keenly done. As with other recordings at this venue‚ the sound of the singers comes and goes according to where they are placed on stage‚ and there is rather too much stage noise and unwanted laughter on the part of the singers. Otherwise the recording is reasonable. At almost as low a price‚ the elderly Gui version‚ taken shortly after stage performances at Glyndebourne‚ still holds sway. The mid­price Erich Kleiber‚ equally ancient‚ sounds well in its new incarnation and is graced by the presence of many legendary singers in Vienna at the time (the mid­1950s). Among recent versions with period instruments‚ I still go for the Östman‚ a perfectly cast version with a really lived­in feeling.