Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!

NativeDSD Senior Reviewer

Golda Schultz, supported by seven other fine soloists, takes us on a delightful excursion through the three Mozart/da Pointe operas, Don Giovanni, Le nozzi di Figaro, and Cosi fan tutti.

The album is dedicated to the five strong female characters in these three operas. She brings strength to each, navigating the sometimes difficult arias perfectly. Conductor Antonello Manacorda and the Kammerakademie Potsdam provide excellent backing.

A recital? Yes, but so much more. A little bit of “highlights,” but these are also portraits of fascinating women.

Highly recommended!

Bill Dodd - Source

Fono Forum

Mozart’s operas are always about women. He gave them the most beautiful, most heartfelt melodies.

Golda Schultz, the South African soprano with the warm, yet radiantly bright, open voice, has now turned a catalog of often-heard numbers into an organic yet varied whole: “Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!”

This does not exhaust the entire spectrum of Mozart’s soprano types. But Schultz has chosen seven (!) finely tuned co-singers to integrate her Mozart women into duets, sextets, and even the “Figaro Finale”.

Very original and successful.

Manuel Brug

MusicWeb International

The complexity of the female characters in Mozart’s operas is best illustrated in the three great da Ponte operas, where Susanna and Contessa, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira and Fiordiligi really stand out as three-dimensional individuals. Golda Schultz manages to catch the essence of each of these five personalities; no easy task, since they are so different.

The light, lyrical Susanna has very little in common with the high-dramatic Donna Anna, but Schultz skilfully individualises her tone, even though her voice type is closer to the latter. It was also a brilliant idea to include several ensemble scenes as a counterweight to the traditional recital with a string of arias.

The supporting singers are excellent, but only Samoan tenor Amitai Pati is featured prominently in the long duet between Fiordiligi and Ferrando from Così fan tutte (track 8), where his beautiful lyrical tone holds its own well against Golda Schultz’s more powerful voice.

Simone Easthope’s Susanna also blends well with Schultz’s Contessa in the little duettino from Le nozze di Figaro (track 11). Milan Siljanov is a characterful Don Alfonso in the sextet from Così fan tutte (track 12).

Generally, in the big ensembles, the voices blend uncommonly well.

Goran Forsling - Source