Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527

Johannes Weisser (Don Giovanni), Lorenzo Regazzo (Leporello), Alexandrina Pendatchanska (Donna Elvira), Olga Pasichnyk (Donna Anna), Kenneth Tarver (Don Ottavio), Sunhae Im (Zerlina), Nikolay Borchev (Masetto), Alessandro Guerzoni (Il Commendatore)

Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs

If Jacobs is hardly the first modern conductor to present the opera in its 'original colours', his Don Giovanni is among the liveliest and most enjoyable on offer. It is certainly one of the... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 1st Oct 2007
Catalogue No: HMC901964/66
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Series: Jacobs Mozart Operas
Length: 2 hours 43 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

1st October 2007
Gramophone Magazine

Awards Issue 2007

Disc of the Month

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527

Work length2:43:27

$61.40

$76.75

Ouvertura

Track length5:35

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 1: "Notte e giorno faticar"

Track length5:26

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 2: "Leporello, ove sei?

Track length0:31

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 3: "Ah del padre in periglio" "Ma qual mai s'offre, o Dei"

Track length2:52

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 3: "Fuggi, crudele, fuggi!"

Track length3:53

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 4: "Orsù, spicciati presto"

Track length1:50

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 5: "Ah chi mi dice mai"

Track length3:42

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 5: "Chi è là?"

Track length3:04

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 5: "Madamina, il catalogo è questo"

Track length5:15

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 6: "In questa forma dunque"

Track length0:42

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 7: "Giovinette che fate all'amore"

Track length1:31

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 8: "Manco male è partita"

Track length2:14

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 8: "Ho capito, signor sì"

Track length1:34

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 8: "Alfin siam liberati"

Track length1:49

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 9: "Là ci darem la mano"

Track length2:59

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 10: "Fermati scellerato"

Track length0:42

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 10: "Ah fuggi il traditor"

Track length1:10

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 11: "Mi par ch'oggi il demonio si diverta"

Track length1:07

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 12: "Ah ti ritrovo ancor" "Non ti fidar, o misera"

Track length3:27

$1.00

$1.25

Atto primo. Scena 12. Recitativo Don Giovanni "Povera sventurata!"

Track length0:24

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 13: "Don Ottavio, son morta!"

Track length3:05

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 13: "O sai chi l'onore"

Track length2:43

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 14: "Come mai creder deggio"

Track length0:30

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 14: "Dalla sua pace"

Track length4:19

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 15: "Io deggio ad ogni patto"

Track length1:53

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 15: "Fin ch'han dal vino"

Track length1:32

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 16: "Masetto: senti un po'"

Track length1:19

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 16: "Batti, batti, o bel Masetto"

Track length3:25

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 16: "Guarda un po' come seppe"

Track length0:36

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 16: "Presto presto pria ch'ei venga", Scena 17 "Su svegliatevi, da bravi"

Track length1:37

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 18: "Tra quest'arbori celata"

Track length2:15

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 19: "Bisogna aver coraggio"

Track length3:16

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Primo, Scena 20: "Riposate, vezzose ragazze"

Track length8:24

$1.20

$1.50

Atto Secundo, Scena 1: "Eh via buffone"

Track length1:01

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 1: "Leporello. Signore."

Track length2:04

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 2: "Ah taci, ingiusto core"

Track length4:13

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 2: "Amico, che ti par?", Scena 3 "Eccomi a voi!"

Track length2:19

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 3: "Deh vieni alla finestra"

Track length1:55

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 3: "V'è gente alla finestra!", Scena 4 "Non ci stanchiamo"

Track length1:15

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 4: "Metà di voi qua vadano"

Track length2:40

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 5: "Zitto! Lascia ch'io senta", Scena 6 "Ahi ahi! La testa mia!"

Track length2:06

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 6: "Vedrai, carino"

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 7: "Di molte faci il lume"

Track length0:37

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 7: "Sola sola in buio loco", Scena 8 "Ferma, briccone"

Track length7:04

$1.20

$1.50

Atto Secundo, Scena 9: "Dunque quello sei tu" "Ah pietà...", Scena 10 "Ferma, perfido, ferma..."

Track length2:01

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10a: "Restati qua!'

Track length1:46

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10a: "Per queste tue manine"

Track length3:13

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10b: "[Amico...] Guarda un po' come stretto"

Track length1:15

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10c: "Andiam, andiam, signora"

Track length1:02

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10d: "In quali eccessi, o Numi"

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 10d: "Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata"

Track length3:50

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 11: "Ah ah ah ah, questa è buona"

Track length4:16

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 11: "O statua gentilissima"

Track length3:25

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 12: "Calmatevi, idol mio"

Track length0:59

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 12: "Crudele! Ah no, mio bene!"

Track length1:30

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 12: "Non mi dir, bell'idol mio"

Track length4:45

$1.00

$1.25

Atto secondo. Scena 12. Recitativo Don Ottavio "Ah, si segua il suo passo"

Track length0:19

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 13: "Già la mensa è preparata"

Track length4:45

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 14: "L'ultima prova"

Track length3:49

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena 15: "Don Giovanni, a cenar teco"

Track length5:15

$1.00

$1.25

Atto Secundo, Scena Ultima: "Ah dove è il perfido"

Track length5:51

$1.00

$1.25

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Recording of the Week, Mozart - Don Giovanni from René Jacobs

1st October 2007

The final instalment of the Belgian conductor’s ‘refreshing and intelligent’ Mozart-Da Ponte cycle has Chris questioning his preconceptions about the eponymous libertine, sung here by 27-year-old Johannes Weisser.

If there is one thing that marks out René Jacobs’s approach to Mozart, it is the way he constantly asks himself questions – and the specifically musical brilliance of the answers he comes up with. The success of his recent version of La clemenza di Tito is proof of that! After Così fan tutte and Le nozze di Figaro, his recording of this centrepiece of the Mozart/Da Ponte trilogy offers us the latest fruits of his reflections on Classical opera. Premiered at the 2006 Innsbruck Festival and recorded shortly afterwards, this production is nourished by his thoughts on Don Giovanni as taboo-breaker and on a ‘physiology of roles’ that respects Mozart’s intentions as nearly as possible.

Reviews

2010

If Jacobs is hardly the first modern conductor to present the opera in its 'original colours', his Don Giovanni is among the liveliest and most enjoyable on offer. It is certainly one of the most brilliantly played. The Freiburg band, forwardly balanced, are eager, involved participants in the drama. Mozart's wonderful woodwind commentaries are as pungent as you will hear, while rasping, minatory valveless brass and gunfire period timpani create a properly terrifying frisson in the Commendatore's retribution scene.
Jacobs being Jacobs, there are controversial things here. Tempi can suddenly spurt forward or slow down, usually – as in the opening scene – with dramatically exciting results. Both finales hurtle forward with thrilling impetus. Elsewhere speeds can sound a shade frenetic: in the Act 1 Quartet, for instance, or in Zerlina's two arias.
As in Jacobs's Figaro, the recitatives are done in a natural, conversational style, with fortepiano and cello adding their creative 'commentaries', like the instruments in the arias.
For Jacobs, Donna Elvira is the opera's central female character. Accordingly, he casts Anna with the relatively light-toned Olga Pasichnyk, who sings 'Non mi dir' tenderly and gracefully, and sounds more sorrowful than vengeful in 'Or sai chi l'onore' – a more vulnerable and more likeable figure than usual. Conversely, Alexandrina Pendatchanska's Elvira is as hysterically obsessive as any on disc, with a mingled desperation and tragic grandeur in her big Act 2 recitative: it's an exciting performance, certainly, though her phrasing can be disconcertingly gusty.
Smooth legato is hardly a priority for Johannes Weisser either. His Giovanni is less the sinister, demonic anti-hero, more an over-sexed, heedless young bounder with a taste for danger and a penchant for cruelty. He is casually seductive with Sunhae Im's coquettish, sweet-toned Zerlina, rapier-sharp in his exchanges with Leporello, where his youthful, tenorish timbre contrasts strongly with Lorenzo Regazzo's bass-baritone.
Regazzo's is a charismatic performance, never descending to caricature; his lubricious relish in the Catalogue aria does not preclude a hint of elegance. The mellifluous-toned Kenneth Tarver makes a sympathetic, concerned Ottavio, the Masetto is aptly sullen, the Commendatore amply imposing. But few could deny the zest, sweep and sheer theatrical charge of this recording.

September 2006

Regazzo's brilliant diction and timing put him in the first
rank…Pendatchanska's Elvira seemed in each of her appearances like a Fury descending not only on Giovanni, but on all the other characters too.

2010

René Jacobs conducts a bitingly sharp account of Don Giovanni...the cast list does not sound distinguished, yet they make a superb team with no weak link, and Jacobs's speeds are sensible rather than exaggerated. The soloists all have fresh, clear, firm voices

28th September 2007

There is much to admire...especially from the playing of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra as primed by Jacobs's tensely dramatic phrasing and pacing…

20th October 2007

Jacobs's recording of the 1788 Vienna version (with the discarded Prague numbers included in an appendix) is always exhilarating...I found its zest and mercurial spirit refreshing, often compelling.

Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527

Downloads

Contents

Recording of the Week, Mozart - Don Giovanni from René Jacobs

Download queue