Mozart - La Clemenza di Tito / Nicholas Hytner · Andrew Davis · Philip Langridge · Glyndebourne Opera
This stylish 1991 production of Mozart's final opera is another triumph  from England's Glyndebourne Festival. "Odd man out" among Mozart's stage works,Titoclashes with such subtle masterpieces asDon GiovanniandThe Marriage of Figarodue to its remote subject matter (assassination  plot against Roman emperor Titus) and serious tone. But when done right--as  here--Titoemerges, through Mozart's sublime music, as a classic  character study. Director Nicholas Hytner couches the story in an immediacy  often missing from stagings of Mozart's operas. Led by Philip Langridge's  forgiving Titus and Ashley Putnam's conspiratorial Vitellia, the cast sings with  the skillful brio of the best Mozarteans; Andrew Davis fluidly conducts the  London Philharmonic. The opera is sung in Italian with optional English  subtitles, and the Dolby 5.1 mix places the voices out front, as they should be  in Mozart. ThisTitois a welcome addition to anyone's Mozart collection.--Kevin Filipski