MOZART: OPERA AND CONCERT ARIAS. Olaf Bar,...

MOZART: OPERA AND CONCERT ARIAS. Olaf Bar, baritone; Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Hans Vonk. EMI-Angel 49565 (compact disc). The same respect for word values that colors the German baritone’s Lieder recordings distinguishes this imaginatively planned, 14-part recital. On the basis of the evidence, Bar would appear to be more a Count Almaviva than a Figaro, more a Guglielmo than a Don Giovanni (in which the approach is a mite clinical). But Papageno’s aria (with an assist from soprano Ute Selbig) capture a droll bird catcher, and the concert arias (“Mentre ti lascio” and “Un bacio di mano”) want nothing in stylized bonhomie or flexibility. Vonk’s accompaniments could be a lot more personable.