Sony Masterworks has released on CD a January 28, 1961 broadcast Marriage of Figaro, recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting at a fast clip.  After the overture in which Leinsdorf highlights tuttis, singing melodies, rhythmic drive and subtle harmonies, Act One begins with Susanna (Roberta Peters) is determined to get the attention of Figaro (Cesare Siepi).  He, the go-to Figaro for a decade, performs the shifty valet with wit and will.  Peters sings a sensuous and spicy Susanna. 

Lucine Amara, a bulwark of the Met, is poignant and delightful Countess, and Kim Borg, the Finnish bass-baritone, sings the Count with rightful lasciviousness and anger, and gets comfortably through every note and turn.  Borg is perfect when he discovers he has been duped in the third scene of Act III.  As Mozart deploys stock musical effects such as unison scales, leaps and trills and a wide-ranging vocal line, Borg finds the underlying currents of intolerance and violence, which are barely held in check. 

It’s easy to understand in this recording why Mozart’s favorite ensemble was the third act sextet in which Bartolo and Marcellina (sung by Ezio Flagello and Regina Resnik) reveal themselves as Figaro’s parents, then turn from deadly enemies into guardian angels.  In the letter duet, as the Countess and Susanna plot to trick the Count, Amara moves from bitterness to sorrow, aided by her “competition.” It is a moment of reflective beauty.

The end of the third Act is a fandango, a Spanish popular dance that Gluck had previously used in Don Juan. Its same haunting melody was used by both composers, and Leinsdorf conducts with fluidity and style. 

Buying a CD is for auditory experience, and in this Sony remastering, the orchestra appears to have been suppressed to bring forward the vocal artists.  The overall effect is distorted, not happily.  Attention to textual detail is not always the forte of live broadcasts.  Few recordings include the fourth act arias of Basilio and Marcellina, and this Met production skips them.