Mozart’s best known work is opera’s quintessential ensemble piece.  Placing it on the plain of excellence requires a uniformly talented cast that not only performs well in isolation but also functions superbly together.  This second cast revival of Giorgio Strehler’s production, shared with La Scala, gestures toward that collective charisma, but does not always reach the heavenly heights to which Mozart is supposed to inspire us.

Ezio Frigerio’s sets themselves diminish the effect.  Count Almaviva’s palace seems newly constructed – odd for the primary seat of a wealthy, powerful, and well connected Old Regime family, – and its internal bareness looks more like rehearsal space than the splendorous surroundings that would get at the heart of the work.  I felt distracted by the thought that the characters had just moved into the quarters where the drama unfolds.  Only Jean Guizerix’s work with the dances – often glossed over – added an appealing dimension of frivolity.

The cast sang with talent and energy but rarely showed the flair that staid Mozartean measure needs to come alive.  Erwin Schrott’s Figaro stood out with its excellent dramatic aptitude, though the otherwise solid voice sounded somewhat held back.  The young soprano Julia Kleiter’s Susanna likewise took few chances at the beginning of what may well be a promising career.  Dorothea Röschmann’s Countess Almaviva pleasantly contributed “Porgi, amor” and her half of the “Canzonetta sull’aria,” but again without really capturing the passions at work.  In the role of her rakish husband, Christopher Maltman employed a steady baritone to good effect.  The only true standout, however, was Isabel Leonard’s excitable Cherubino, which announced a mezzo career to which we should all look forward.  Maurizio Muraro’s Bartolo, Robin Leggate’s Don Basilio, and Ann Murray’s Marcellina all contributed fine character sketches.  Dan Ettinger’s work with the orchestra unfolded with competence and occasional flashes of graces, but it was harmonized with the generally underwhelming quality of what was happening on stage.