COSI FAN TUTTI: AN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERY

Inspector Zen has been demoted from the sophisticated north of Italy to the police precinct of Naples to deal with corruption, crime, and a bit of intrigue--not to mention his missing mother. Looking for a connection between Mozart's opera and its relationship to this title also takes some detective work. Michael Kitchen's reading further muddies the mystery. He pronounces Italian words musically and with gusto, then runs all the phrases together for long stretches without inhaling, leaving our ears gasping for breath. Some characters have Italian accents at the beginning of a speech but lose them by the end, and soon they all sound alike, and very British at that. The main fault is his lack of vision for the entire story; he treats each scene as an unclear entity, empty of suspense. He has a rich voice of which he is proudly conscious, but does he care about telling a story? J.P. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 02]