Don Giovanni

Sigiswald Kuijken, Conductor

Werner van Mechelen, Huub Claessens, Elena Vink, Christina Högman, Markus Schäfer, Nanco de Vries, Harry van der Kamp, Nancy Argenta
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte

Listening to this CD was the first time I ever listened to an opera all the way through; it was the only recording of Don Giovanni that the local library had. Although it is not the best CD of the work out there, I will always have a soft spot for it. It hooked me.

The cast is very solid with nice voices all around. The focus seems to have been on beautiful singing more than emotion, and compared to some of the recordings I listened to later. However, there is enough emotion there - and within the music itself - to make this a very enjoyable listen. Nobody really stands out, but this is a case of the whole being much greater than the sum of the parts. It meshes nicely.

I'm not very sensitive to tempo differences between to conductors (they have to be really major in order for me to notice), but Kuijken seems to have a good sense of how the music flows along with the story. It's a live performance, too, which brings more emotion to the recording.

As far as buying it goes, well, I haven't bought it. I wouldn't reccomend this as a first Don Giovanni to anyone else, but if you are an opera fan who already knows the more popular recordings of the work you might find this interesting. If you find it in a library I would take it out and give it a listen.

Originally Reviewed:

22-Feb-03