# What is the best performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni ?



## etcohod (Jun 1, 2014)

*I've been listening to three versions of Don Giovanni:
1-Don Giovanni METOPERA 10.22.2016
2- Mozart-Don Giovanni 2013 (Festspielhaus Baden Baden)
3- W.A.Mozart - Don Giovanni (Karajan; Ramey, Tomowa-Sintow, Varady, Battle)

In you opinion which one is the best?
can you suggest another version apart from mentioned ones?*


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I don't believe there is a best, I have favorites that I enjoy but I don't consider any of them the best because they are all different with different singers/conductors/orchestras, etc.

Herbert Von Karajan/Vienna with Ramey is one of my favorites to watch on DVD. Ramey just had a magnificent voice in my opinion and I can listen to him sing all day.

Carlo Maria Giulini/Philharmonia with Wachter is a classic.

Colin Davis/Royal Opera House Orchestra with Wixell is another one I really enjoy.

Josef Krips/Vienna with Siepi is another classic that I love hearing.

There's lots of really good ones honestly. It all depends on what you like.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

realdealblues said:


> I don't believe there is a best, I have favorites that I enjoy but I don't consider any of them the best because they are all different with different singers/conductors/orchestras, etc.
> 
> Carlo Maria Giulini/Philharmonia with Wachter is a classic.


I agree that it is very difficult to choose an overall favourite for this opera, however the Giulini is _the_ classic that is often recommended as a first choice. I would say to listen to a few with your favourite singers.

Other than the Giulini (which is a must), there's the Fricsay with Fischer-Dieskau and a decent overall cast. The conducting really gets the classical style pinned down. The Jacobs would be my first choice for a period orchestra recording with a not so starry, but very good cast.

There are also two live recordings that I would suggest: One with Price and Schwarzkop conducted by Karajan and one from the ROH with Freni as a stupendous Zerlina (it also has Jurinac and Gencer, so not to be sniffed at).

N.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

etcohod said:


> I've been listening to three versions of Don Giovanni:
> 1-Don Giovanni METOPERA 10.22.2016
> 2- Mozart-Don Giovanni 2013 (Festspielhaus Baden Baden)
> 3- W.A.Mozart - Don Giovanni (Karajan; Ramey, Tomowa-Sintow, Varady, Battle)
> ...


I've only heard #3 - a decent performance, but not a favorite.



> can you suggest another version apart from mentioned ones?


Lots of people like the Giulini recording. I don't (Taddei aside, I don't care for the cast), but I'm in a distinct minority.

If you don't mind live mono, Mitropoulos is fantastic:


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

There are an abundance of riches. The Giulini is a classic with a wonderful cast and terrific conducting.
Interesting that Karajan's live recording from Vienna is as different as can be from the later studio recording. One is amazed it is the same conductor. So much for the critics who say he conducted everything the same!
Krips conducting is tame but a great cast
Jacobs the best HIP imo


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## zxxyxxz (Apr 14, 2020)

I agree that the Giulini is very good.

I do like the Chandos Opera in English Don Giovanni, the leads will be found better elsewhere but they are still very good and there is no weak link 

For a very very historical choice I like the 1936 Don Giovanni available on Naxos Historical conducted by Fritz Busch the sound quality is amazing and the Don Ottavio of Koloman von Pataky is beautiful one of the best.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Classic set


Personal chioce


Wonderful movie


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## Pjuhasz (5 mo ago)

wkasimer said:


> I've only heard #3 - a decent performance, but not a favorite.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Whenever you start with Siepi as D.G. you cannot be wrong! Add in Della Casa (as D.E.), Corena or Edelman as Leporello, and the Vienna Philharmonic, you have a chance to produce the best performances. Every one of the Krips, Mitropoulos, or Furtwangler recordings belong in the top tier. (Honestly, for me any opera recording featuring Schwarzkopf or Fischer-Dieskau is a non-starter)


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I prefer the Losey production with Maazel conducting and Ruggero Raimondi as the Don.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I covered several versions in *The Beginner's Guide* . . . An opera so monumental is took four posts to cover it.









A Beginner's Guide to Classical Music


#158 4th Symphony Robert Schumann 1841/revised 1851 A little controversy regarding the completion dates of Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op 120 here: Clara Schumann, Robert's widow, later claimed on the first page of the score to the symphony, as published in 1882 as part of her husband's...




www.talkclassical.com













A Beginner's Guide to Classical Music


#158 4th Symphony Robert Schumann 1841/revised 1851 A little controversy regarding the completion dates of Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op 120 here: Clara Schumann, Robert's widow, later claimed on the first page of the score to the symphony, as published in 1882 as part of her husband's...




www.talkclassical.com





But the best one is here: The *2011* production from the *Metropolitan Opera Company* and *Metropolitan Opera Orchestra*.









A Beginner's Guide to Classical Music


#158 4th Symphony Robert Schumann 1841/revised 1851 A little controversy regarding the completion dates of Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op 120 here: Clara Schumann, Robert's widow, later claimed on the first page of the score to the symphony, as published in 1882 as part of her husband's...




www.talkclassical.com













A Beginner's Guide to Classical Music


#158 4th Symphony Robert Schumann 1841/revised 1851 A little controversy regarding the completion dates of Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op 120 here: Clara Schumann, Robert's widow, later claimed on the first page of the score to the symphony, as published in 1882 as part of her husband's...




www.talkclassical.com





Of course, *one* of the worst, at least from an artistic standpoint, was from the *Teatro dell’Opera di Roma,* where The *Commendatore*'s statue appears instead as a _*cartoon version of Michaelangelo's Hand and Finger of God from the Sistine Chapel*_, which is lowered onstage (much like the animation from an episode of MONTY PYTHON), and instead of being dragged to Hell, Giovanni breaks the plywood finger off, throws it down, and exits stage right.

Check out 2:31:12. Worst artistic decision in the history of *Don Giovanni*.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Best “live” performance with a fabulous cast is the Siepi/Mitropoulos/Salzburg though in mono. If only Pristine Classical would refurbish the mono recording!

My favorite recording is the 1959 Giulini EMI studio version..


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Best “live” performance with a fabulous cast is the Siepi/Mitropoulos/Salzburg though in mono. If only Pristine Classical would refurbish the mono recording!
> 
> My favorite recording is the 1959 Giulini EMI studio version..


Which of the Furtwängler/Siepi performances would you choose, though? There are at least two with Schwarzkopf as Elvira and the film of the stage production, which has Della Casa as Elvira. I have this Gala release of the 1953 performance 










but there's also this one from 1954










The video is also from 1954










The Giulini studio recording is also my favourite for a studio recording. It's been wonderfully refurbished in Warner's De Luxe opera series.


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## ALT (Mar 1, 2021)

Some fine recommendations indeed. But, closer to our days, we also have this sterling, if grossly underrated, Don Giovanni.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

ALT said:


> Some fine recommendations indeed. But, closer to our days, we also have this sterling, if grossly underrated, Don Giovanni.
> 
> View attachment 174180


This was one of the first DG's I owned and at the time I liked Shimell's Don. However, after hearing many other fine recordings, my admiration for it has waned. Muti is an unsubtle Mozartian and all the roles have been better sung by others. I still have the set for Studer's Donna Anna, which I wouldn't want to be without, but it's not now a set I consider an essential recommendation for others.

N.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Which of the Furtwängler/Siepi performances would you choose, though? There are at least two with Schwarzkopf as Elvira and the film of the stage production, which has Della Casa as Elvira. I have this Gala release of the 1953 performance
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Gala recording above has since been issued by Orfeo and is likely an official release from the radio tapes and therefore in better sound. I don't like the film (Della Casa does nothing for me for one) and I only have it as it is a bonus item in a Furtwangler set I have.

There is a further Furtwangler Don Giovanni from Salzburg (1950). It has Gobbi as the Don (possibly controversial and not to everyone's taste), Schwarzkopf is Donna Elvira, but the rest of the cast isn't up to the other better known sets (Welitsch is a squally Donna Anna).

Do others have favourites out of these?

N.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I prefer *Josef Krips* with Siepi rather than Furtwängler.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> I prefer *Josef Krips* with Siepi rather than Furtwängler.


I prefer Furtwängler's cast to the Krips, particularly the ladies.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I prefer Furtwängler's cast to the Krips, particularly the ladies.


I am not a fan of Furtwängler's conducting.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I prefer Furtwängler's cast to the Krips, particularly the ladies.


I haven't actually heard the Krips and I prefer a baritone Don (hence Fischer-Dieskau, Gobbi and Wachter being among my favourites). I would like to hear what Corena does with Leporello though. That said, I agree about the female members of the cast.

The slow ponderous nature of Furtwangler's Mozart is not getting to be to everyone's taste, but it has a sense of its own. I prefer the faster, lighter touch of Fricsay and Giulini is possibly the best conductor who isn't in any way HIP. However, if there were only one valid way to conduct the score it wouldn't be that great a work of art in the first place.

N.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I am not a fan of Furtwängler's conducting, nor his orchestra. In both instances, I feel Krips is more Mozartian.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

SanAntone said:


> I prefer *Josef Krips* with Siepi rather than Furtwängler.


And I'll take Mitropoulos over either of them.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

wkasimer said:


> And I'll take Mitropoulos over either of them.


Although I haven't heard it, it's the presence of Della Casa in the cast that puts me off the Mitropoulos. However, I really need to give it a go.

N.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

wkasimer said:


> And I'll take Mitropoulos over either of them.


Mitropoulos is the only conductor that makes the chorus and ensembles in Don Giovanni work for me. With other conductors, I tend to skip over these.

Mitropoulos must be the universal opera conductor. He can work magic with Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Strauss, and Berg.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

If you're tolerant of historical sound for me the very best version is the 1937 performance led by Bruno Walter and a fantastic cast including Pinza, Rethberg, Lazzari and Borgioli.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

Op.123 said:


> If you're tolerant of historical sound for me the very best version is the 1937 performance led by Bruno Walter and a fantastic cast including Pinza, Rethberg, Lazzari and Borgioli.


The transfer by Richard Caniell on Immortal Performances label is the best one can find in the market so far, yet not much can be done to improve the sound of a nearly 90-year old live recording taped originally with a long obsolete technology. 




Here's a detailed review by Thomas Prochazka of the performance on the Immortal Performances issue, including a discussion of the provenance of the Immortal Performances label, and the Selenophon, the recording technology used to tape the performance (translated into English from German):



> *They are a minority: the opera lovers who are interested in how people used to sing. For them the world offers a few retreats: the releases on **Preiser Records** , **Marston Records** and **Immortal Performances Recorded Music Society** in Canada with their recording engineer Richard Caniell.*
> 
> The Immortal Performances Recorded Music Society is a non-profit organization supported by the Canadian public and dedicated to making exemplary historical recordings of opera and concert recordings available to the interested public.
> 
> ...


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

My top 3 of Don Giovanni recordings:

Giulini









Davis









Gardiner


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Best alroung is Giulini / Philarmonia produced by Legge.

just about perfect cast and brilliantly recorded and conducted.


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

Klemperer was originally supposed to conduct this recording, but he was ill. That's why the young Giulini came in. Good thing! Klemperer later recorded Don Giovanni. That recording was my first Don Giovanni. It is one of the worst studio recordings of this opera. Besides the recording is very bad (cold and chilly) almost everyone sings the wrong part.


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## Viardots (Oct 4, 2014)

My favourite versions:


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)




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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

_







_

I listened to this recording for the first time this weekend. What a surprise! Highly recommended. I wish this had been my first encounter with Don Giovanni. Even if you can dream Don Giovanni, I can recommend listening to this recording in its entirety. See reviews:

Gramophone Mozart Don Giovanni
Pamina's Opera House » CD Review: Don Giovanni (1990, Östman)

Quote:
_If you want your first Don Giovanni to be a period instrument recording, then I recommend this one wholeheartedly. It’s enjoyable from beginning to end._


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