Finta Giardiniera

Following on the remarkable and unprecedented success of his recordings of Die Zauberflote, Idomeneo, La Clemenza di Tito and the three Da Ponte operas, conductor Rene Jacobs leads an all-star cast in a performance of Mozart's La finta giardiniera, written in 1774 when the composer was only eighteen. Always an iconoclast, Jacobs chose to use a posthumous version of the score dating from 1796. Discovered in the music library of Count Heinrich Wilhelm Haugwitz in the Czech town of Namest nad Oslavou, the score includes additional wind parts and displays skillful re-orchestration. While the arranger's name remains a mystery, in view of the score's elegance and sensitivity, scholars agree he was a connoisseur of Mozart's style. Jacobs' strong cast stars British tenor Jeremy Ovenden as Count Belfiore and soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska (aka Alex Penda) as the vengeful Arminda.