The singers (once again in alphabetical order) are: Benjamin Appl, Francisco Araiza, Ileana Cotrubas, Lucy Crowe, Diana Damrau, Mariella Devia, Jodie Devos, Gerald Finley, Anja Harteros, Louise Lebrun, Marjana Lipovsek, Margaret Marshall, Edith Mathis, Kurt Moll, Ann Murray, Jessye Norman, Lucia Popp, Margaret Price, Samuel Ramey, Carolyn Sampson, Golda Schultz, Leopold Simoneau, Lydia Teuscher, Cesare Valletti, and Georg Zeppenfeld.

January 29, 1982, my first Mozart at the Met, missed the master’s birthday by two days. Although I’d come to New York on a family vacation while I was in grade school, I at last made my Met debut as a grown-up two nights earlier attending La bohème with Teresa Stratas and José Carreras. However, the prime reason for my trip was the premiere of a new production of Così fan Tutte starring Kiri Te Kanawa, then one of my favorite sopranos. She was returning to the Met for the first time in six years, her Fiordiligi paired with Maria Ewing as a delicious Doraballa.

That enchanting Così proved the first of many outstanding Met Mozart performances over the years. By that time, I had already begun to explore the concert arias but getting to all of them would take a while. Eventually, I’d buy both the London and Phillips collections of the complete arias on CD along with many, many individual discs.

Collecting today’s miscellany took a lot of work, particularly as I wanted to include just one selection by each singer. All three of last week’s arias are here because I really wanted to share Norman’s grand “Bella mia fiamma” as well as Price’s rare K. 505 which is accompanied by Wolfgang Sawallisch on piano alone. “Vorrei spiegarvi, oh dio” is performed by the lesser-known Canadian soprano Louise Lebrun.

The Valletti version of Mozart’s best-known tenor concert aria, “Misero, o sogno” also comes from a piano-only performance. Alfredo Kraus, too, often included the aria in his recitals.

Next month anticipating the Met’s 2025-26 season announcement, Chris’s Cache makes its own contributions to February’s Talk of the Town.

Group A

  1. K. 70 “A Berenice” (Diana Damrau—2018)
  2. K. 210 “Con ossequio” (Francisco Araiza—1981)
  3. K. 217 “Voi avete un cor fedele” (Carolyn Sampson—2016)
  4. K. 255 “Ombra felice” (Marjana Lipovsek—1981)
  5. K. 272 “Ah lo previdi”(Anja Harteros—2009)
  6. K. 295 “Basta vincesti” (Ileana Cotrubas—1970)

Group B

  1. K. 369 “Misera dove son” (Edith Mathis—1961)
  2. K. 374 “Ah questo seno deh vieni” (Ann Murray—1982)
  3. K. 418 “Vorrei spiegarvi oh dio” (Louise Lebrun—1979)
  4. K. 419 “No, no, che non sei capace” (Jodie Devos—2018)
  5. K. 420 “Per pieta, non ricercate’ (Leopold Simoneau—1956)
  6. K. 431 “Misero, o sogno” (Cesare Valetti—1959)
  7. K. 490 “Venga la morte” (Margaret Marshall—1983)

Group C

  1. K. 505 “Ch’io mi scordi di te” (Margaret Price—1987)
  2. K. 512 “Alcandro, Io confesso” (Kurt Moll—1972)
  3. K. 513 “Mentre ti lascio” (Samuel Ramey—1992)
  4. K. 528 “Bella mia fiamma” (Jessye Norman—1974)
  5. K. 538 “Ah se in ciel” (Mariella Devia—2006)
  6. K. 541 “Un bacio di mano” (Benjamin Appl—2024)

Group D

  1. K. 577 “Al desio” (Lucy Crowe—2024)
  2. K. 578 “Alma grande” (Lucia Popp—1978)
  3. K. 582 “Chi sa, chi sa” (Lydia Teuscher—2018)
  4. K. 583 “Vado ma dove” (Golda Schultz—2023)
  5. K. 588 “Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo” (Gerald Finley—2012)
  6. K. 612 “Per questo bella mano” (Georg Zeppenfeld—2018)

Each concert aria grouping can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.

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