Search - Mozart, Leinsdorf, Wiener Philharmoniker :: Don Giovanni

The Best Don PERIOD!

01/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nothing, NOTHING compares with this version of Don Giovanni. Corena and Siepi play each other off perfectly. I even have the LP's (which the program notes and drawings are something else!). These two, along with Nillson, Price, Valetti, etc. might result in "ego" bruising and result in a terrible performance. Thankfully, it doesn't. A true recording. I only wish this was a live performance that was available on DVD."

One of the great "Giovannis" of the phonograph

Virginia Opera Fan | Falls Church, VA USA | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording and the rival EMI set conducted by Giulini were released about the same time. A product of a joint venture between English Decca and American RCA, the performance was first released on Living Stereo LPs until the rights reverted to Decca. It took years for it to eventually make a fairly short lived appearance on CD. Comment over the years has been that if you could transplant Siepi's Don into the EMI set you'd have the greatest opera recording of all time. I've known both recordings for many years and have come to appreciate their own unique attractions. I have always admired Leinsdorf's approach to Mozart - lacking some of the crackling intensity of Giulini, perhaps, but persuasive in its grander gestures. The cast is extraordinary. Nilsson is perhaps less suited to her role than the other principals and her florid singing can be a little heavy and ungainly. There's no doubt about the drama, however, as this Nordic powerhouse soars in Anna's expressions of outrage. She's also in better form here than in the Bohm/DGG of a few years later. I think Price's usual role in Giovanni was Donna Anna but it is extremely interesting to hear her as Elvira. (One of my personal "if onlys" longs for a studio documentation of Price's Elvira and Schwarzkopf's Elvira, a confrontation preserved in an in performance recording from about this same era.) I personally prefer Siepi's Don here to the earlier Krips conducted performance, also on Decca. Corena's Leporello is well vocalized and characterful. Valletti's Ottavio is perhaps the best on record. Eugenia Ratti's voice is something of an acquired taste, but the remastering deals kindly with her pingy tone and avoids the munchkin-like quality that some have objected to in documentation of her stage work. I think this was also the first recording to offer a complete amalgamation of the Prague and Vienna versions. It includes the comic duet for Zerlina and Leporello that Mozart wrote for the first Vienna performance. It is performed with obvious relish by Ratti and Corena. Soncially, this recording is a characteristic product of Culshaw and his Sofiensaal team. So, along with the EMI/Giulini, this is my reference Giovanni. It's time to agitate for a Decca re-issue. I, for one would love to hear it given the restoration in SACD it richly deserves."

Superb!

Virginia Opera Fan | 06/05/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not an "opera buff" per se but rather a Mozart afficianado. And for drama and adventure - as well as rich, moving and chilling music - Don Giovanni can't be beaten! I have heard several versions of this opera and own two others, but the only one I listen to is this one: Leinsdorf's. I like it because it is played and sung basically the way it was written - not with angry, barking Leporello's, or wooden or drunken Don's, or Chihuahua-like Masetto's - but mostly with real people acting like real people in extreme circumstances, and orchestra players who actually watch the conductor. Siepi is the perfect Don - displaying energy, easy confidence, strength, and arrogance with a marvelously rich and nimble baritone voice. He makes it look so easy... Corena as Leporello plays the Don's servant as a human being - with a range of emotions from grumbling to empathetic to pragmatic to comical to endangered and betrayed, etc. This version is beautifully and thoughtfully done. It's not quite perfect - I think Price sounds a bit too angry and un-genteel at times, and Nilsson occasionally sounds a tad "wavey" and "swooning" (perhaps because she's supposed to) - but overall, it's simply untouchable. Mozart - and Prague - would be proud."