Mozart: Vado, ma dove? oh Dei!, K583

“Lott is bright and lyrical (Exsultate), and tender ('Lungi da te'). She can be a bit colourless, but Glover's orchestra gives brilliantly nuanced support.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 ****

“Exsultate, jubilate, fine as recorded sound, crisp in the playing, deliciously clear and clean in the singing, sets off with all the promise of a bright spring morning. The middle movement, "Tu virginum corona", is exceptionally beautiful in adding to its accustomed serenity a more rarely heard sense of compassion, bringing out the references to the grief that calls for consolation. Then with the "Allelujah" the sun is out again, the rhythms dance, the voice shines and rejoices in those difficult semiquavers and the final high C. … A lovely performance of "Ruhe sanft" … the marvellous Mitridate [is] crowned by a quiet high D almost as miraculous as the greater wonder of its composition by the 13-year-old boy.” Gramophone Magazine

“'Singing Mozart is second nature to her,' enthuses Rattle of Magdalena KoOená. 'Each woman on each track is a completely distinct personality.' Promotional hype? Well, in hyper-Beckmesserish mode you could say her legato in 'Per pietà' is not quite seamless, the tempo for 'Deh vieni' a touch too jaunty. But this is barrel-scraping. If anyone has recorded a lovelier Mozart recital in recent years, we've yet to hear it. In her early thirties, KoOená is now consummate mistress of her art. Her liquid high mezzo, with its easy upward extension, combines warmth with the bloom and freshness of youth, while her coloratura, on display in 'Al desio di chi t'adora', is as brilliant and expressive as Bartoli's, yet without the Italian diva's intrusive aspirates.
Beyond this, Rattle's claim is hard to refute.
Cherubino (whose 'Voi che sapete' is sung in an embellished version published in 1810) and Dorabella (a blithe, flighty 'È amore un ladroncino') are the only roles here in KoOená's stage repertoire. But she 'lives' each of these wide-ranging characters intensely, from the remorseful Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito (sorrow etched into the texture of her voice) via the tenderness and anguish of Ilia in Idomeneo to a delightfully sly, knowing Despina. The vivid, tangy accompaniments from Rattle and the OAE go well beyond mere good style, with a classy basset-horn obbligato from Anthony Pay in the Vitellia aria. Fortepianist Jos van Immerseel is an equally sympathetic partner in an impassioned yet intimate performance of Ch'iomi scordi di te.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Banse is…. a discerning artist, with a graceful, subtle feeling for a Mozartian line, fluent coloratura and plenty of fire in a piece like the magnificent scena Ah, lo previdi - arguably Mozart's first truly great vocal work. …the orchestral playing is consistently alert and polished, with the solo oboe matching the soprano's eloquence in Ah, lo previdi.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005