Carson Cooman: The Cloak With The Stars – Erik Simmons

   in Early Music Today (Jun, 2014)
This is a reissue of a disc that was originally released in 2007 on Sony BMG. It consists of arias and ensembles from most of Mozart’s operas between Apollo et Hyacinthus (1767) and Die Zauberflote (1791), the excerpts from Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte preceded by the relevant recitative. The chronological approach makes for some odd tonal juxtapositions – the A major of the duet from La clemenza di Tito followed by the B flat of the quintet from Die Zauberflote, for instance – but there are sufficiently long pauses between the numbers for this not to be too serious.

The main interest lies …