Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Michael Halasz, Bo Skovhus :: Mozart - Don Giovanni / Skovhus · Girolami · Pieczonka · I. Raimondi · Halász

This recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni would be worth acquiring even if it sold at full price: as a bargain issue, it's almost a dream release. From the explosive opening bars through to the final epilogue, the reading is dramatically high-voltage. Conducted by Michael Halasz at energized tempi, it has room to breathe in a spacious recording ambience, which means that numbers like "Fin ch'han dal vino" register as something more than a garbled blur. The orchestral playing is crisp and alert, with clear projection of some often bypassed inner detail (like the cello underlay to "Batti, batti"); the ensemble singing is distinguished; and the solos come with real finesse--especially from Adrianne Pieczonka, whose Donna Anna is disarmingly bright, fresh, and youthful in a way that for once explains what Giovanni sees in her. Regina Schorg's Elvira is a touch stern with a wide vibrato but no matter: it's a fine voice. And there's a superb Ottavio from Torsten Kerl: a name you won't know but should listen for. Neither of the two main roles, alas, quite squares up vocally to the best available on disc: Renato Girolami's Leporello doesn't shine for the recording, and Bo Skovhus--an accomplished Giovanni, as already heard on the Mackerras version--has a clouded tone that loses focus. But they both deliver theater, almost to excess. Caveat emptor: this is a Prague edition reading as opposed to the usual mix of Prague and Vienna, which means that two of the most celebrated numbers--"Dalla sua pace" and "Mi tradi"--are consigned to an appendix; and the booklet gives you the libretto in Italian only, no translation. Otherwise, this recording gets a general and enthusiastic thumbs-up. --Michael White