Böhm conducts Le nozze di Figaro

An imaginative 1976 TV production of Mozart's comedy unites Karl Böhm – then nearing the end of a lifetime's engagement with Mozart – with the Vienna Philharmonic, and a cast that unites multiple generations. Hermann Prey is Figaro, Mirella Freni is Susanna and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau brings his legendary way with words to an unusually flirtatious Count. Kiri Te Kanawa (Countess) and Maria Ewing (Cherubino), meanwhile, are both at their youthful peak; delightfully fresh and touchingly believable. It's a team that would have been hard to assemble on stage, even then, and Böhm's matchless flexibility and authority underpins a production (by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle) that contemporary critics praised for its refreshing lack of cliché.

Soloists: 

Maria Ewing (Soprano), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone), Mirella Freni (Soprano), Paolo Montarsolo (Bass), Janet Perry (Soprano), Hermann Prey (Baritone), Kiri Te Kanawa (Soprano)

Ensemble: 

Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor: 

Karl Böhm