Mozart: Don Giovanni

Product Details
Performer: Roger Soyer, Heather Harper, Geraint Evans, Helen Donath, Luigi Alva.
Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Daniel Barenboim
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Audio CD (November 8, 1991)
Number of Discs: 2
Label: EMI
Condition: Used (Very Good)
Rating: ####
Availability: In Stock
Price: RM31.00

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Track Listings

Disc 1

1. Overture
2. Act 1. Scene 1. Notte e giorno faticar
3. Act 1. Scene 1. Non sperar, se non m'uccidi
4. Act 1. Scene 1. Lasciala, indegno!
5. Act 1. Scene 1. Leporello, ove sei?
6. Act 1. Scene 1. Ah! del padre in periglio
7. Act 1. Scene 1. Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!
8. Act 1. Scene 2. Orsù, spicciati presto
9. Act 1. Scene 2. Ah, chi mi dice mai
10. Act 1. Scene 2. Madamina, il catalogo è questo
11. Act 1. Scene 3. Giovinette che fate all'amore
12. Act 1. Scene 3. Ho capito, signor, sì!
13. Act 1. Scene 3. Là ci darem la mano
14. Act 1. Scene 3. Fermati, scellerato!
15. Act 1. Scene 3. Ah, fuggi il traditor!
16. Act 1. Scene 3. Non ti fidar, o misera
17. Act 1. Scene 3. Povera sventurata!
18. Act 1. Scene 3. Don Ottavio, son morta!
19. Act 1. Scene 3. Or sai chi l'onore
20. Act 1. Scene 3. Finch'han dal vino
21. Act 1. Scene 4. Batti, batti, o bel Masetto
22. Act 1. Scene 4. Presto, presto, pria ch'ei venga
23. Act 1. Scene 4. Tra quest'arbori celata
24. Act 1. Scene 4. Bisogna aver coraggio
25. Act 1. Scene 4. Protegga il giusto cielo
26. Act 1. Scene 5. Riposate, vezzose ragazze
27. Act 1. Scene 5. Venite pur avanti
28. Act 1. Scene 5. Ecco il birbo
29. Act 1. Scene 5. Trema, trema, o scellerato!

Disc 2

1. Act 2. Scene 1. Eh via, buffone, non mi seccar!
2. Act 2. Scene 1. Ah taci, ingiusto core!
3. Act 2. Scene 1. Deh vieni alla finestra
4. Act 2. Scene 1. Metà di voi qua vadano
5. Act 2. Scene 1. Vedrai, carino
6. Act 2. Scene 2. Sola, sola in buio loco
7. Act 2. Scene 2. Mille torbidi pensieri
8. Act 2. Scene 2. Ah, pietà, signori miei!
9. Act 2. Scene 2. Il mio tesoro intanto
10. Act 2. Scene 4. Calmatevi, idol mio!
11. Act 2. Scene 4. Non mi dir
12. Act 2. Scene 5. Già la mensa è preparata
13. Act 2. Scene 5. L'ultima prova dell'amor mio
14. Act 2. Scene 5. Che grido è questo mai?
15. Appendix. Dalla sua pace
16. Appendix. In quali eccessi, o Numi
17. Appendix. Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata
18. Act 2. Scene 5. Or che tutti, o mio tesoro
19. Act 2. Scene 5. Questo è il fin

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This is a very inexpensive Don Giovanni done by Barenboim in the early Seventies. It's better sung than his remake on Erato, and the cast is good for that time. It represents what you could have heard at Glyndebourne on a summer evening outside London. Geraint Evans sounds a bit old as Leporello, the Commendatore is woolly, and the Donna Anna isn't always on pitch, but everything else works. Barenboim uses a relatively reduced orchestra but conducts in romantic style, often with slowish tempos. He was young a the time, but his idol Furtwangler conducted this opera quite slowly by modern standards, which must have influenced Barenboim's ideas. One big negative is that squeezing the opera on two CDs involved some cuts, mostly in recitatives and various additions that Mozart made for the Prague premiere.

Here is a rundown of the cuts: Now, it is not unusual for recitatives in Mozart operas to be shortened, and the practice doesn't upset me greatly, but there is a difference between trimming something and cutting it off entirely; and for the most part, that is what happens here. The recitatives in Don Giovanni are not filler; they are an important part of the action, as well as part of the characters' identities, and omitting them for the purpose of squeezing this recording onto two CDs is false economy. At times, the effect is ridiculous: the graveyard scene, for example, has been reduced to "O statua gentilissima" (3:36). Arias follow hard upon each other with an annoying abruptness--both musically and in terms of the editing, which doesn't disguise the hatchet job. Inconsistently, "Dalla sua pace" and "Mi tradì" (plus its recitative) are included in an appendix at the end rather than in their appropriate places within the opera--as if textual authenticity had any relevance at all in such a heavily cut recording! Apparently the original release also included the frequently cut scene in act II in which Zerlina shaves an unwilling Leporello. This, too, is missing from this new reissue. Clearly, it is no replacement for the original version.

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