Mozart: Don Giovanni Mozart Edition, Vol. 41

Another Complete Mozart Edition set winner. Love it. Great music, good recording, and songs. It is a keeper.

One of the definitive Don Giovanni's, with a very cohesive cast and great pacing. The booklet is small (as most CD books) but very complete. Recommended!

This is one of the finest recordings I've ever heard. I love it, and it stands up very well to being pumped out on a car stereo. Absolutely first-class.

It's the entire opera, not just the usual highlights, and it is brilliant. The cast is superb, every one of them.

Received in a very broken cd case.

I have heard every recording of "Don Giovanni" from the 1935 Fritz Busch version to the more recent John Eliot Gardiner production. There are good performances in all of them, but for some reason this opera is so difficult that even top professionals do not always "jell" in it. For that reason, as well as my own personal tastes, I have gravitated to only four recordings over the years: this one, the 1955 Krips set with Siepi et. al., the 1959 Giulini recording and the 1986 Karajan version. All have strengths and weaknesses, but overall this is the one that satisfies me most musically and dramatically. The biggest problems with the Krips set are the lightweight singing of Danco and Della Casa as Anna and Elvira and the lack of dramatics throughout. In the Giulini, neither Taddei nor Sutherland sing their rhythms properly--Sutherland keeps a steady legato throughout, which is not a good thing--and Luigi Alva is a tight, nasal-sounding Ottavio. In the Karajan recording, Tomowa-Sintow is rough and wobbly, Agnes Baltsa is a mezzo Elvira with a short high range, and Samuel Ramey just sings his part in a straightforward, blulstery manner.This leaves the current set which, oddly enough, I owned on LPs almost 30 years ago. I enjoyed the conducting, but Philips' LP sound of the era was shrill and blasting, with all soprano high notes sounding like shattered glass, and both Wixell and Ganzarolli sounded wiry and rough which was not my ideal for the Don and Leporello. Thanks to the miracle of digital remastering, however, most of these technical problems are eliminated. Now the sopranos sound full and rich-voiced, their brightness in the upper register coming across with naturalness and beauty. Moreover, Wixell and Ganzarolli now sound only a little rough-hewn, not grating. The only problems stem from the fact that Martina Arroyo always had a habit of "sliding into" notes instead of hitting them dead-on, and because of this she goes flat a couple of times in the opening scene, and the fact that Wixell and Ganzarolli sound so much alike it is hard to tell which is the Don singing and which is Leporello.As a balace, however, this is BOTH a musical (like the Krips) AND a dramatic (like the Karajan) performance. Everyone is very much "into" their parts, everything is sung properly, all the syncopations and dotted rhythms are observed, and Davis' conducting digs into the music, in my opinion, even better than Krips, Giulini or Karajan. The end result is a very satisfying performance, one that I think you will listen to over and over again, which is not necessarily the case with the other three versions I mentioned.One other thing. The album cover pictured here is not the Davis recording, but the Roger Norrington recoridng on EMI which is, quite frankly, weakly sung and conducted. If you want a scaled-down "Giovanni" you would be better going with the Gardiner, even though the Elvira and Zerlina have terrible voices.

Colin Davis was one of those solidly reliable, and brilliant, conductors in most of his opera recordings. He was not always at his best in Verdi or Puccini but this was more often due to the strange 'bad luck' he had with singers, no shows, settling for less, honoring a manager's requirements to hire from His Stable, etc.But Davis's conducting was never the problem in my long experience of collecting his recordings.He was outstanding in Mozart. This Don Giovanni, like his Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte, is a good first choice, especially for young collectors who are just learning the Mozart masterpieces. Davis's approach is never dull or middle of the road, but neither was he ever eccentric or self-aggrandizing. He is also more energetic and electric using a 'traditional' opera orchestra (as opposed to the H.I.P.-historically informed performances.. euphemistically speaking). He is not ever ponderous as Klemperer and Barenboim's Mozart sets are, nor is he slick and suave, like Karajan could be in this repertory.The Royal Opera House orchestra was extremely familiar with this music and they play beautifully in a relaxed but alert manner. The Philips engineers, as usual, capture the balance between orchestra and singers perfectly.The crowning jewels in this recording are the wonderful singers. This was my second Don Giovanni recording, after Giulini's famous and still great one. I am currently down to 8 recordings, having jettisoned a few over the years for various reasons. There are some fine singers on those too, but Martina Arroyo's Donna Anna is still top of the heap. This singer, who was taken for granted in America due to all her many broadcast appearances at the Met, delivers a dramatically believable and musically impeccable performance of an extremely difficult role. Her clear and beautiful lyrico-dramatic soprano easily rides the orchestra and shines on top and glows in the middle and lower registers. Her words are crystal clear in all parts of her voice. There are several Donna Annas who are near this league but none better, not even Sutherland for Giulini, who is her usual bovine self, but the voice is glorious. The advantage with Arroyo is that she actually sounds like a young aristocrat. Her grief after her father's murder is acute and this sets up the motivations for all that happens afterwards. Too often this scene is taken by the soprano as a Diva Show and there is a flatness left afterwards. Not with Arroyo and Davis. The brilliance of the opening scene starts with Wladimiro Ganzarolli's sexy and appealing Leporello. Here is another singer in this cast who has not been bettered, equaled maybe but not bested. I have always regretted in a small way that he was not cast as Don Giovanni.The fine Swedish baritone, Ingvar Wixell, is a very good Don, he's just not sexy at all. He's more of an intellectually scheming cad. This approach works just fine, I just happen to like my Dons to be overwhelmingly virile and rapacious. Thomas Allen, for Marriner, is my touchstone in this role, and, of course, Eberhard Wächter's teutonic brute for Giulini. Wixell sings with a great deal of character and spirit nevertheless and is one of the best Dons on record, in terms of musical intelligence and vocal technique. And he sounds quite young, so don't be put off by his middle-aged male pattern baldness photographs. He reminds me vocally of his youthful compatriot Peter Mattei, with his flickering ardent vibrato.This was, if I am not mistaken, Kiri Te Kanawa's first major recording. Her Donna Elvira gained more fame in the Maazel film made years later but here she is in her youthful vocal prime and she is glorious sounding. And she acts in this recording more effectively than anything she sang afterwards on record.She is a soft-grained Elvira but still conveys the fiery anguish of this wronged woman with vivid bite, and her diction is impeccable, for once! And she has, like Arroyo's Anna, a fine grasp of the pyrotechnics of this part. The florid music pose no problems for her. Just don't expect an Anna Catarina Antonacci (Muti film) Anna Magnani type impersonation and you will be quite satisfied with Te Kanawa's ultra fem Elvira.Mirella Freni's Zerlina is adorable, charming, sexy and innocent. There aren't too many other adjectives that accurately describe a perfect Zerlina singer other than vocally, gorgeous, spirited and technically and musically pristine. AND she acts well in this role that was perfectly suited to her lyric soprano. It is such a shame she let Karajan talk her into recording Aida and Elisabetta di Valois, roles in which she had to scream her way through to make any impact dramatically. I understand that it must be very boring for some singers to stay within their vocal 'fach' forever. And Freni is too intelligent a singer to want to sing Susannahs, Zerlinas, Despinas and Mimis the rest of her life, especially as she got older. But why not Donna Anna, Fiordiligi, Countess Almaviva and Konstanze? Anyway, this Zerlina is one of Freni's truly great recordings which show the world what the to-do about her was all about. I can think of no finer Zerlina. That makes three singers who are unsurpassed in their roles in this opera on recording.But we aren't finished. Stuart Burrows was one of those great tenors who never made less than a very fine recording. You can safely buy any recording he is on and rest assured you will get your money's worth with this man's beautiful lyric tenor. There are some fine Don Ottavios (VERY fine Don Ottavios) on record, Burrows is the Finest.Luigi Roni was a reliable solid Italian bass who turns in an excellent Commendatore. He does not possess the stygian depths of some basses in this part, I'm thinking Gottlob Frick (Mitropoulos) and Robert Lloyd (Marriner) but his is a fine and implacable and terrifying ghost in the end.Colin Davis's Don Giovanni is a fascinating delight from start to finish. It is very dramatic, funny, moving and charming by turns and the entire cast is truly a team of excellence that has not been so uniformly achieved on any other sets (audio or film) that I have heard or seen.Never underestimate Colin Davis. He is greatly missed!!

I first bought this set on second hand LPs decades ago. I confess I didn't listen to it as much as I should have done, and shortly afterwards starting building up a CD library of opera recordings, replacing this version with Bernard Haitink's Glyndebourne version from EMI (1982) which has been my go-to recording ever since.However, the chance came up to acquire the Davis recording (new and unopened) on Amazon for less than the price of a West End pint, and it seemed too good an opportunity to pass on. I have just finished listening to it, and can confirm what a thrilling rediscovery it is. Of course, the quality of the cast more or less speaks for itself. I cannot think of a more beautiful, honeyed tenor than Stuart Burrows in Don Ottavio's music, surely the best on record. I was lucky enough to see him in the Opera House in 1981 in this opera, alongside Ruggero Raimondi, Gundula Janowitz and Kiri Te Kanawa, and it remains an especially memorable occasion.Here is the very young Te Kanawa in one of her signature roles, Donna Elvira. The voice was to develop and bloom further in the succeeding years, but already there is the promise of so much to come, and she crowns a notable performance with a splendidly lyrical account of "Mi tradi".I had forgotten the impact of Ingvar Wixell's Don Giovanni, not as suavely sophisticated as Thomas Allen on the Haitink set, but always elegantly musical, and ably aided and abetted by Wladimiro Ganzarolli's characterful Leporello.Mireille Freni is, as expected, a deliciously coquettish Zerlina, pacifying the dark voiced Masetto of Richard Van Allan, and I love the echo effect on Luigi Roni's sepulchral Commendatore as he enters Giovanni's dining room in the last scene.Perhaps the biggest surprise will be Martina Arroyo, who manages to scale down her Verdian voice to negotiate Donna Anna's wide leaps and dramatic coloratura to give one of the most successful interpretations of the role on disc, contributing endless and effortless tonal beauty to all the ensembles. Hugely impressive singing.At the helm of all this is Colin Davis, leading his Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra with a real whiff of the theatre, full of drama and energy that places his recording near the very top of all 'Giovanni' recordings. There may be some better individual performances to be found on rival recordings, but Davis conducts a homogenous whole, with no weak links and many strengths.I am so glad I have finally returned to this excellent recording after many years neglect, and I am sure it is the recording I will most often return to in the future.

Davis, Wixell, Ganzarolli and Freni reunited two years after their magnificent Nozze de Figaro, this has to be high on any true Mozart lover's wish list. Wixell's grainy Giovanni perhaps doesn't quite match the legendary Thomas Allen's offering with Haitink but he's still up there among the best. Keeping the comparison with the Haitink set, Ganzarolli is a livelier, more tongue-in-cheek Leporello than Van Allen. And Freni, what can one say? A delightfully coquettish Zerlina who perfectly complements Ganzarolli.And of course we have the wonderful Sir Colin at his magnificent Mozartian best leading his beloved Covent Garden musicians. Hard to choose which I love more, this 1973 recording or his 1971 Nozze with the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.Honours all round, and particularly to Lorenzo and Wolfgang for the three magnificent works they gave us!

Fantastic recording of one of Mozart's greatest operas.

Une version de 1973 qui n’a pas laissé trace dans l’histoire, à vrai dire jamais reprise dans les analyses comparatives des spécialistes. Pourtant Sir Colin Davis était un chef d’opéra réputé, y compris dans Mozart. La distribution est un peu hétéroclite, comme souvent chez les grandes firmes discographiques. Je ne pense pas qu’ils avaient eu l’occasion de jouer ensemble, car Davis a dirigé d’autres artistes à Covent Garden dans les années 70. On y a seulement Te Kanawa et Burrows en cette même année 1973.Après une ouverture classique qui n’appuie pas (pas assez ?) sur le côté tragique, l’intervention du valet, puis du maître permet de repérer des voix très dissociables, ce qui n’est aps toujours le cas : Ganzarolli est un baryton-basse et Wixell un baryton à la voix claire (un peu trop pour la noirceur du personnage ?). Selon la mode de ces années là, il y a bruitages et on entend clairement les épées ferrailler. Stuart Burrows était un des meilleurs ténors mozartiens de cette génération, souvent enregistré par les plus grands chefs : son Ottavio est viril et surtout superbement chanté. Wixell était un bon chanteur-acteur, de la gamme des Gobbi, Bacquier, Raimondi (son numéro de charmeur est aussi crédible que ses pointes de morgue). Evidemment, il faut aimer ce timbre plus clair que celui de la plupart des titulaires du rôle titre. Idem de Wladimiro Ganzarolli (excellent Guglielmo de Cosi) : cela s’entend dans leurs dialogues, très vivants.On se souvient de la belle Elvira de Kiri Te Kanawa dans le film de Losey, voilà une mozartienne, bien plus à l’aise ici que dans les grands Verdi. A l’inverse, je n’attendais pas là la verdienne Arroyo, à la voix crémeuse et aux aigus de stylet. Force est de constater, qu’à défaut d’oie blanche, elle est une Anna très digne et noble, « la fille à son père ».Les paysans vont bien ensemble : à la voix fraiche de Freni répond la voix noire de Van Allan. Le Commandeur de Luigi Roni, habitué des seconds rôles de basse, est impressionnant, à la toute fin seulement. Le trio des basses est équilibré.Le chef a réussi à unifier une distribution pas évidente au départ, grâce sans doute à sa longue expérience théâtrale. Sa version, moins dramatique que celle, fameuse, de Giulini, ne verse pas non plus dans l’histrionisme : en ce sens, elle respecte le délicat équilibre du « Dramma giocoso ». Elle est élégante, certes, mais il manque un peu de passion dans tout cela, c’est très british, in fine.Je ne la recommanderai qu’aux passionnés de cette œuvre géniale et aux nostalgiques de ces voix souvent entendues, aux timbres reconnaissables, surtout si on la trouve à prix réduit.Commentaires, résumé et livret intégral en anglais, allemand, français, italien. Enregistrement studio de 1973. Excellents effets stéréo (dialogues).

Redescubrir esta obra de Mozart a partir de esta excelente grabación ha sido una gran experiencia. Los años no han pasado por ella.