Customer Reviews

Mozart: Don Giovanni

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this live recording to be excellent. It is not a studio recording, and does have some 'live' qualities, just as you would hear if you were in the Opera House. I find, that as with all Opera D'Oro sets, that the sound is excellent crisp and clear. This is an excellent value, and a great way to get to know the Opera with out spending a fortune. I have given it as a gift several times and value the copy I have for myself.

This is an Italian radio broadcast of Don Giovanni, and from the absence of audience and stage noises, I take it to be a studio production. (for some reason, half the reviews here seem to be of an undisclosed recording by Callas.) I was attracted to this set, as quite a few experienced listeners might be, because of Giulini and Ghiaurov. In the conductor's case, I have no objection to his classic 1959 recording on EMI, but Ghiaurov, a dominant Don in the era when Siepi was tapering off, isn't heard to best advantage on Klemperer's slow, stern, dour recording, even though it has a unique place in the discography. So can we have the best of both worlds?

Not quite. The mono sound, though adequate, is somewhat thin and shrill at times. Giulini seems uninspired and gets only middling performances from all concerned. I'd assess the lead singers, each a star, as follows: Ghiaurov s in good voice during his prime but feels too low-key at times; he rarely switches on his charisma. Bruscantini offers a fine, idiomatic Leporello who is suitably like a peasant, but the singer makes for a very mature comic foil. Janowitz was an experienced Mozartean, and she has the notes for Donna Anna as long as you anticipate her lighter, more flutey delivery; she's not very Italianate, but I find that a minor drawback. Alfredo Kraus is stylish but a bit uninvolved as Don Ottavio. Sena Jurinac isn't in good voice and at this stage in her career wound up struggling with Donna Elvira's treacherous arias -- Giulini eases the way for her, which lowers the dramatic impact. The charmless Zerlina of Miliakovic is too often out of tune. The chorus and orchestra are sloppy but willing.

In all, the high promise of this set doesn't quite come into being, but there is enough positive that I can see someone buying this budget Don Guivanni with reasonable satisfaction.

There are two live recorded performances of "Don Giovanni" from 1970 made within a couple of months of each other, each with Nicolai Ghiaurov commanding in the lead role, Gundula Janowitz thrilling as Donna Anna and the lesser-known Olivera Miliakovic competent but bland as Zerlina and occasionally out of tune. One is this broadcast by the RAI Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Rome under Giulini before a quiet studio audience and the other is a Salzburg Festival performance under Karajan. As such, they cry out to be compared, featuring two major conductors and two celebrated singers in favourite roles.

First, the sonics: both are very listenable but the sound in the RAI broadcast is much sharper and wirier, with a fair amount of blare and distortion in concerted passages; the Salzburg recording is somewhat duller and more distant but easier on the ear.

The casts and forces assembled are both admirable: the Vienna SO is undoubtedly smoother, keeps in tune better and is more refined than the intermittently untidy Italian orchestra but the latter is lithe and responsive under Giulini and remains very acceptable. Karajan is more animated than Giulini and better at generating tension at key dramatic moments and although at times Giulini achieves a grandeur closer to Klemperer, ultimately the performance remains a little earth-bound.

Ghiaurov sings virtually identically in both: a big, smooth, rich bass, properly flexible and seductive if occasionally a little monotonous; not much wit or humour just a massive, testosterone-pumped confidence. Bruscantini has rather too neat, light and refined a baritone for the earthy Leporello and he sounds rather more like the Don's uncle, but of course he delivers the Italian text with relish. Having said that, Geraint Evans, bluffer, broader, more blustery manner is more apt for depicting the aristocratic philanderer's put-upon side-kick and Evans' coarser way with the comedy isn't necessarily out of place. To my ears, Stuart Burrows' mellifluous yet powerful tenor for Karajan is far preferable to that of Alfredo Kraus, who, contrary to expectation, is rather acidulous of tone, snatching and yelping at some notes and unable to take "cercate a consolar" in one breath in "Il mio tesoro". As much as I am a huge admirer of Sena Jurinac, I suggest that she doesn't sound quite at ease or at her best as Elvira here; Giulini tries to ease her round the sharp corners of her arias but she is gusty at this stage of her career. Teresa Zylis-Gara for Karajan is finer, purer and more flexible. Giulini's Commendatore is Slavic, weak and wobbly; Victor van Halem, by contrast for Karajan, is everything he should be: firm, brazen, huge-voiced and chilling. Janowitz is simply divine in both recordings, dominating the ensembles, agile and soaring in her solos. I love her fluty tone and its rather virginal, disembodied character is perfect for the prim and proper Donna Anna.

The Karajan account emerges as the clear winner. However, if you want Giulini at his best, his famous, earlier EMI studio recording remains the first choice; it is tauter, more characterful and by and large better sung than this later performance.

The de luxe Opera d'Oro "Grand Tier" version offers a full libretto, synopsis, notes, photos and biographies. It is also available in this standard bargain issue with nothing but the briefest of synopses and cues.

I love the fact that this CD hasn't been remastered to lose the surface sounds and electricity of Bernstein and Callas together again. The vast majority of the poorer quality recordings were made by Callas herself, with a recorder in the prompter's box, so she could review her performance later. Others were made by fans sometimes in the nosebleed sections of various houses. Either way, I was not there and any chance to hear a prima at LaScala with these two giants careening through this pastoral piece is worth every penny. Bravi!

The sound quality on this CD makes it unacceptable. It was recorded live, and is extremely scratchy and one can barely make out the vocals. It's impossible to know whether the performance was good or not, since the recording is so poor.

This sounds like a cellular phone on the freeway. Callas deserve better. At times I can't even hear her all. This is the worst sound I've ever heard. How dare they release this!?