Customer Reviews

Mozart: Don Giovanni

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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Many people consider Mozart to be the greatest composer ever, and consider "Don Giovanni" to be his finest opera ever. I am not going to choose "greatests"; I am going to say that no self-respecting music fan can afford to be without a recording of "Giovanni," and that this 1959 Giulini/EMI set is the one to buy.

Plenty of other recordings of this well-recorded work have fabulous singing. What really makes this one a cut above the rest is the absolutely magical conducting of Carlo Maria Giulini (b. 1914). With Toscanini and Serafin, he is the finest Italian conductor of the twentieth century, and this recording is testament to his greatness. From the terrifying yet thrillingly sonorous opening of the overture to the last, joyous bars of the epilogue, he chooses perfect tempi, phrases gorgeously and brings out the drama and lyricism of this glorious opera. No other "Giovanni" conductor on record comes close. Almost every number provides a revelation, particularly after listening to merely mortal conductors ... Listen to his warmth in the Moderato section of the Overture, his sensitive support to the singers in the big ensemble pieces, his terrifying intensity in the penultimate scene ... If you're looking for sublime Mozart conducting, look no further than Giulini. We are fortunate that he was given the great Philharmonia forces to work with; they turn in some glorious choral singing and orchestral playing, rich and full and beautiful and perfect for Mozart.

Of course, it doesn't hurt either to have some of the greatest singers of the 1950s in some of their greatest roles. Eberhard Wächter is a honeyed, lyrical Don, second only to Cesare Siepi; listen to his exemplary legato and silken line at "La ci darem" and the Serenade, magnificently secure from the lowest part of his range to his top A in the penultimate scene, sung with unerring dramatic feel, and it is only the extra sumptuous richness and darkness of Siepi that gives the Italian bass the edge. Some of the other benchmark performances include: the young Joan Sutherland producing indescribably glorious sounds as Donna Anna (her diction is better than usual, and she shows a significant amount of involvement in her character) - her two big arias are among the greatest records of her formidable art on disc; Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in her prime, combining sumptuous, radiant tone with fiery interpretation (comparing her with Lisa Della Casa for Krips, one finds that Della Casa's Elvira is slightly more effortlessly sung, but Schwarzkopf's voice is, in my opinion, actually slightly more beautiful, and she shows more involvement in Elvira's plight); Luigi Alva, singing the most beautiful, elegant, effortless sung Don Ottavio ever; the black, thunderous voice of Gottlob Frick as the Commendatore, secure down to a subterranean low D in the climactic scene; the great Italian baritone Piero Cappuccilli at the start of his career singing almost too beautifully as Masetto; Giuseppe Taddei providing a finely detailed, delightfully idiomatic portrait of Leporello, for the most part eloquently sung, only occasionally using his annoying "funny" voice that keeps him in second place to Fernando Corena; Graziella Sciutti as a characterful, charming Zerlina ... this is a line-up unsurpassed on record. The only other recording in this league is Josef Krips' classic 1955 Vienna Decca set, with Siepi, Danco, Della Casa, Corena, Dermota, Güden, Berry and Böhme. The essential performances here are Siepi's glorious Giovanni, Corena's resonant Leporello and above all the golden tones of Güden as the best Zerlina on disc. Krips' recording has a fabulous Viennese glow; this Giulini feels more lyrically Italianate. Both these approaches are valid, but Giulini pulls his view of the piece off more finely than even the excellent Krips; and I definitely give the edge to Giulini's flawless cast. Added to this is the gloriously clear, rich sound of Walter Legge's classic stereo recording. This set is attractively packaged in EMI's (full-price) "Centenary Edition," but I'm hoping that EMI will promote it to the mid-price series where it belongs, "Great Recordings of the Century." If ever there was a great recording, it's this one. It is a classic of the gramophone and needs to be in every collection. Happy listening!

With Dame Joan Sutherland supremely cast as Donna Anna, how can you lose? This performance was recorded in 1960, only a little before Sutherland's historical debut at La Scala, Milan as Lucia di Lammermoor in which the diva received 30 curtain calls after an astonishingly sung mad scene. I was there and was completely shattered by gorgeous tone and incredible singing. It really was a revelation in the Art of Bel Canto!!! She was immediately dubbed La Stupenda, and proclaimed Prima Donna Assoluta of the entire world, pushing Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi aside. This recording of Don Giovanni is a great demonstration of her phenomenal technique and ravishing dramatic soprano tone. From the bottom of the register to all top notes, she sings with complete ease. All staccatos, runs,and appeggios done to absolute perfection. And of course her legendary trill...Zefferelli said, Joan is the phenomenal singer of our time, and of course she is that. But singing side by side with Dame Joan is the gracious soprano Elizabeth Schwarkopf. What a Donna Elvira she is! What style and fire! I can't think of a better performance in all the recordings. Did you know that Scwarkopf and Callas were at Sutherland's rehearsal of Lucia at the Eve of Sutherland's Covent Garden debut? Later Schwarkopf said that both her and Callas were so stunned by Sutherland's voice that they were both completely speechless. This recording using Sutherland as Donna Anna was at the suggestion of Schwarkopf. And how lucky we are to have both of them in the top roles. Wachter has a more sharp edge version of the Don than I prefer, but he sings with passion, which is always good. My favorite male singer here is Luigi Alva, who sings a definitive Don Ottavio. His singing is in the true bel canto style. And then Carlo Maria Giulini conducts with such elegance that makes every aria and ensemble come to life. This is a must have recording and one of the greatest recordings ever made. A zillion stars!!!

I've heard almost all of the current Don Giovani recordings currently available. No one even comes close to this one. Definitely the definitive recording. Of the young Joan Sutherland's performance of Donna Anna, this was what the legendary Mozartian conductor Bruno Walter said: "She is the best Donna Anna I have ever heard". And indeed she was...plus what a gorgeous voice Joan had those days, along with the greatest technique. Wachter gave us just handsome, handsome sounds as the Don, but also a wonderful sense of drama, we don't have baritones like his in recent times. Schwartzkopf's performance of Donna Elvira had not been equal since I've heard this performance, what magnificent tone and fire!!! She was the complete Mozartian singer of our time. Of Luigi Alva, I'm in awe! What a beautiful lyric tenor, such a command of the taxing coloratura. After hearing this recording, I immediately went out to search for more recordings by this great, and underated tenor!! Now for the conductor, the phenomenal Carlo Maria Giulini. BRAVO!!! Mozart would have been proud of him, as he would have been proud of everyone in this supreme cast. The definitive recording of one of the greatest Operas ever written!!! A thousand stars.

Mozart's glorious music comes alive in this stunning recording of Mozarts most celebrated opera, Don Giovanni.

Without a great conductor, even Don Giovanni becomes bland. Of course, with the legendary conductor Giulini at the podium, every great scene, aria, and ensemble comes alive, overwhelming the listener with the most beautiful music Mozart ever wrote.

Wachter does not have the most pleasing baritone, but what makes his Don convincing is his rough sounded voice. His commands every scene and aria with a Don Juan with super arrogance.

My gosh, this Don Ottavio, we have a quintessential Mozart tenor that sings his two charming aria better than anyone I can think of. He makes the extremely difficult coloratura not only a display of super technique, but so full of love and soul. Wow!

Of Joan Sutherland, it has been said, she was the "Voice of the Century". Well, we know that later in her career she lost both her consonants and her fantastic voice. But not here...As Donna Anna, we hear a Sutherland as she once was - a vocal wonder, making gorgeous sounds in all her great scenes and arias. Technique-wise, she is beyond compare, and she sings with great furor here. Which is something that somehow got lost when she became La Stupenda.

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf(did I spell her name right?) sounds marvelous as Donna Elvira. Her soprano is indeed bright and lovely. A great contrast in tone to Sutherland's pure and silvery soprano, Schwarzkopf has an edge to her voice, making the jealous Elvira believable. This is the diva's most convincing portrayal. In my opinion, topping even her magnificent performance in Rosencavalier.

Scuitti has a angelic and girlish voice to make us feel sorry for Zerlina. And she has no problem with her florid arias.

Luigi Alva is the quintessential Mozart tenor. He sings his two charming aria with both elegance, beauty and precision, surely he is the best Don Ottavio on record. And no other male singer in any recording I can recall, has his command of mozart's difficult coloratura line and breath support.

To not make this review not too long, suffice it to say that the rest of the cast are also wonderful, making this the most memorable Don Giovanni in the catalog. A must buy!

Sutherland at the very peak of her incredible powers as Donna Anna has to be heard to believe. A true dramatic coloratura soprano with the most clear beautiful tone I've ever heard. The conducting is perfect. And the rest of the cast is ideal.

Wow,with great conducting, great singing, great acting, what else do you need? Sutherland's gorgeous voice is ideal for Donna Anna, absolutely not too light, anyone who has heard her live will say that. In the other roles, Schwartzkopf and Wachter are just wonderful. Alas, we don't hear singing like this anymore. Giulini's conducting is both musical and dramatic. This Opera is just beautiful!

The strengths of this recording are Giulini, who gives us the best-conducted "Don Giovanni" ever; Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, whose Donna Elvira is unequalled; and Joan Sutherland, whose singing here is beautiful and not afflicted by the unfortunate diction problems she exhibits elsewhere.

The big problem for me is the Leporello of Giuseppe Taddei. Of the many recordings of "Don Giovanni" I have heard, this was the first time I heard Leporello sung with so many vocal affectations and heavy-handed attempts at embellishing the humor. Apparently Giuseppe Taddei felt that Da Ponte's words were not humorous enough on their own, and that listeners would need some extra help from the singer. Whatever the case, he chose to nasalize his voice in "Notte e giorno faticar", with a series of "no, no, no's" that sounds like a petulant 8 year old and is enough to make one cringe. In the "Catalogo" aria, he barks out "mille e tre" in an exaggeratedly low voice, and distorts other phrases with a variety of effects that are as unmusical as they are annoying. Similar vocal shenanigans crop up throughout his performance and they have the effect of directing undue attention to the singer, instead of what he is singing.

The real crime here is that Taddei's voice, when he sings normally, is so well-suited to the role that he would have been fine leaving well enough alone. It isn't that I believe artists must adhere to some rigid performance tradition, or that Mozart's masterpiece is so sacred that only one interpretation is valid; I just don't like the liberties that Taddei took with the role, at least as he sings it here.

The conventional wisdom is that if there is a problem with this recording, it's what critics refer to as Waechter's "nasty, snarling" Don, but I disagree. While I don't like him as much as Siepi (heard on recordings conducted by Furtwangler, Krips, Mitropoulos and Leinsdorf), he's certainly more than equal to the role and I felt that his interpretation was very good.

Conventional wisdom also holds that Taddei's characterization of Leporello is close to ideal, so my objections represent a distinctly minority viewpoint. The beauty of the orchestra under Giulini's gifted leadership makes it easier to overlook the Leporello problem, as does the brilliant performance of Schwarzkopf and Sutherland, but I don't think that I'll ever get used to hearing Taddei's nasal "no's".

For a recording of "Don Giovanni" with a less eccentric Leporello, try the Davis on Philips or the Krips on Decca, both recorded in stereo sound. For live recordings in reasonably good mono sound, the Furtwangler and Mitropoulos recordings made at the Salzburg Festival both have much to offer (avoid the Furtwangler recording from 1950, with Tito Gobbi as the Don; the recorded sound is barely listenable and Gobbi's interpretation is not for everyone's taste).

you non-Sutherland fans. leave her alone, she will be remembered as the great soprano of this and any other century! Her's is a voice of pure gold!

I have become a fan of Mozart's opera lately. After experiencing Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflote, I searched for the third and last Big Three of Mozart's greatest operas. My search ended with the help of Amazon.com and was my effort worth it. From what I hear, this is the best recording of Don Giovanni. After listening through all three CDs, plus reading through the orchestral score, I couldn't have agreed better. No need for me to elaborate further on the superb roles of the singers and the conductor of making this recording THE recording of the century. Buy it and experience it yourself. You'll never regret it.

A superb recording of Mozart's great "Don Giovanni" which shows no signs of aging. First-class through and through.