Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Eliot Gardiner, Rodney Gilfry :: Mozart - Don Giovanni / Gilfry, Orgonasova, Margiono, James, Prégardien, D'Arcangelo, Gardiner

Glorious!

J. Luis Juarez Echenique | Mexico City | 12/24/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Of the 3 Da Ponte operas, Don Giovanni is Gardiner's most successful recording. Hi fiery conducting is both stylish and exciting, not unlike the magnificent Carlo Maria Giulini. His cast is admirable, I certainly prefer a high baritone than a deep bass as Don Giovanni. Let's not forget that Mozart wrote the role for the 21 year old Luigi Bassi, sure labeled a bass, but later in life he became a tenor, so most certainly he was what we now call a baritone. Rodney Gilfry is suave and sexy in the title role, and he contrasts nicely with the Leporello and especially with the Commendatore. The Donna Anna takes the vocal honours of the recording, the great slovak soprano Luba Orgonasova is nothing short of sensational, worthy of the greatest Donna Annas ever recorded. Charlotte Margiono is no less exciting and even more moving, this Donna Elvira is madly in love with the rascal. The Zerlina is more annonymous and could have been improved. It was wise to choose an Italian as Leporello, as young as Don Giovanni, but vocally well diferentiated. The Commendatore is sonorous and commanding. The period orchestra is beyond praise. If you want a digital recording of the greatest of all operas, deffinitely choose this one. If you already own the classic Giulini set, still this great recording is certainly worth owning."

A Marvellous Modern Don

Robert C. Hamilton | Portland, OR USA | 07/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Don Giovanni is widely considered to be the best modern recording of all, and though I haven't heard all the recordings, I think this one would be hard to top. I've played it nearly every day since I got it!
For me, the star of this performance is conductor John Eliot Gardiner. Every time I hear one of his recordings I'm more convinced that he's one of the very best living conductors, and it shows in this fiercely dramatic Don. If you're used to another recording, like those of Giulini or Davis, you might find the overture and final scene to be breathlessly fast, but personally I find either option perfectly correct. But in any case don't assume that this recording is rushed simply because it is a period-instrument version. All of Gardiner's tempi probably do at least lean toward the quick side, but almost nothing here strikes me as excessive or idiosyncratic. The tempi here virtually always add to the effectiveness of the drama. Don Giovanni is one of the most brilliantly vigorous and enthusiastic operas ever written, and Gardiner's incisive conducting of the English Baroque Soloists, the orchestra he founded and clearly has a remarkable rapport with, brilliantly brings that out. I actually recommend heading to the final scene first of all--it really is a shocking, incredibly effective denouement, and in my opinion this version does it justice more than any other.
None of the singers stand out to me quite as much as Gardiner and his fantastic English Baroque Soloists, but this is not so much their inadequacy as the conductor's uniqueness and verve. In fact, they're all quite good and very equipped to cope with Mozartian challenges. You can find starrier casts (none so brilliant or classic as Carlo Maria Giulini's has been assembled since), but there are simply no weak links in this production, and they work well as a cast--this is a live recording, after all.
Rodney Gilfry and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo are well paired here as master and man, their voices clearly distingishable. Gilfry has become associated with the role of Don Giovanni, and for good reason--he really has the measure of the Don's character, and is an excellent vocal actor. D'Arcangelo's Leporello may seem a bit understated compared to many more over-the-top interpretations, and he perhaps could have taken a few more risks, but I actually think he is letting the music and words speak for themselves, and going for a more dry-humor effect, which works very well. His voice sounds great.
As Don Giovanni's nemesis, Andrea Silvestrelli is boomingly magnificent. I would not have accepted his invitation to dinner! He's one of the most resonant Commendatores I've heard, and is picked up to great advantage by Deutche Grammophon's mikes.
Of the other men, it's Christophe Pregardien's Don Ottavio that especially stands out to me. He makes the pyrotechnics in his famous arias sound easy, and the voice is truly beautiful and stylish. Julian Clarkson's Masetto doesn't stand out to this degree--he is a light Masetto (which is not really a problem) but his voice is good and he well expresses his character's irony in "Ho capito, signor si".
The women (Luba Orgonasova as Donna Anna, Charlotte Margiono as Donna Elvira, and Eirian James as Zerlina) are likewise all good and equipped to sing the most brilliant parts of their often quite difficult arias. Eirian James as Zerlina gets considerably more time on stage than usual, because this recording is of the Vienna version and includes a rather extended, and quite fun, exchange between she and Leporello, and she does quite well at it.
That is one of the most interesting features of this set. Almost invariably, the Prague version of Don Giovanni, with some added arias from the Vienna, is heard in performance and on disc. Some give the Prague version alone; this is a fairly recent phenomenon. Even rarer is a performance which gives the full Vienna version, complete with the Leporello/Zerlina duet. Here, Gardiner's tempi are brisk enough that the entire Vienna version is played, with all differing Prague numbers included as an appendix. Hence, you can program your CD player to use the appendix numbers, and hear the Prague version instead. Multiple versions of an opera are always a pain (if you think this is bad try Boris Godunov!) but I think the problem is well solved here.
This recording is marvelous. Gardiner and his orchestra were born to play this music, and I imagine Mozart himself would approve of the vivacity and crisp attack of these period instrument performers. Don't let anyone convince you to pooh-pooh period-practice until you've heard it for yourself; these instruments have a delightfully unique timbre. And I mustn't forget to add that all this is captured in faithful sound by DG's state-of-the-art recording technology--the sound is truthful and the bass comes out brilliantly, especially in the final scene. Besides all this, you get a cast that is a real, performance cast, captured during actual live performances. This should not be passed up."

Once you start listening, you can't stop

Ab H. Gamble | Saskatchewan, Canada | 09/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Taking a chance, I bought this CD set with little knowledge of opera and only having heard Act II, Scene XV of Don Giovanni from another CD set. I am overjoyed that I took this chance, for I have been listening to these songs everyday now for the past months!Comparing this to the recordings from "Don Giovanni: Leporello's Revenge" and the one redording I had of Act II, Scene XV, this version's tempo seems to be a bit faster for most songs, though the vocals still retain their clarity and emotion perfectly; indeed, they've seemed clearer than those I have heard otherwise. The parts which are sped up a bit in "Don Giovanni, a cenar teco" help to add a panicked feeling to the ordeal, which fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the scene; what would one truly do if a marble statue of the man whom they had just killed came in to eat supper?The way some lines are sung never cease to make me smile, such as how Eirian James as Zerlina sings "senza sapone" in "Restati qua". The comic relief is, in this version, always accented perfectly, especially by Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Leporello. Before buying this set, I would never have imagined that opera could be so fun - and this is coming from a teenager!I could not conceive of someone having enough interest in Mozart's Don Giovanni as to buy this CD who would be disappointed in their purchase. This set is definitely one to consider, and I'm sure you won't have any regrets!"