Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jean-Claude Malgoire, La Grande curie et La Chambre du Roy :: Mozart - Don Giovanni / Rivenq · Borst · Gens · Claessens · Marin-Degor · Donnelly · Edwards · Malgoire

MOZART's Don Giovanni!

06/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What is mean is, this is Don Giovanni as Mozart would have heard it! All singers are young and fresh sounding, which is important when we consider that the original Don was only 22 years old! The secco recitatives and fast-moving and often very humourous. The cast as a whole is faultless. The orchestra, too, as long as you don't have a 'thing' about period performance, carries the performance along well under the knowledgeable direction of Jean-Claude Malgoire. The performance as a whole maintains a more light, brisk approach, but not to the extent where scenes like the 2nd act finale are under-played. This recording uses the later Vienna version of the opera (ie. w/out the sextet at the end) which is my preferred version.This, I would have to say, is one of my favourite Don Giovannis, and at the price is amazingly good value."

Fresh new air for Don Giovanni

Gustavo Demarco | Buenos Aires | 06/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There is such an extensive list of memorable recordings of Don Giovanni that it is really risky to try it again after such monuments as Pinza, Siepi or Waechter. The talented director Jean Claude Malgoire proposes something quite different: an enjoyable fresh production that focuses on the team and that privileges a strict respect to Mozart... And he succeeds! This CD is the result of a group of talented young artists under the serious and agile conduction of Malgoire. There are no memorable individual contributions, but the team works together with excellent results. The male voices sound very good, especially Rivenq and Claessens. Simon Edwards sings nicely, but his reading of Don Ottavio lacks of emotion. Danielle Borst is a very good Donna Anna (excellent in 'or sai chi l'onore...'), but her acting is not convincing. Véronique Gens is good as Donna Elvira. The rest of the cast is also good. To summarize: if you want to hear the best Giovanni, go back to the absolute king Ezio Pinza or his closest heir Cesare Siepi. But if you want an enjoyable updated reading of a young set of singers (and remember most characters of this opera are young), try this recording."

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Andrea Moreno | Syracuse, NY United States | 08/04/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"J.C. Malgoire does Mozart some real justice here (check out his companion recordings of Figaro and Cosi with most of the same cast). His little orchestra sounds bright and spontaneous, their period instruments effectively underscoring the scary theme of damnation beneath all the fun. The singing is uniformly fine, drawing out the evocative beauty of the duets and ensemble parts. Nicolas Rivenq is a good actor who manages to drain all the warmth and maturity from his voice to do Giovanni as a First Class Jerk -- mean, childish and infectiously funny. I also appreciated Veronique Gens' Elvira, driven to the brink by unrequited love but somehow clinging to her dignity. Like Rivenq's, her performance is enlivened by some moments of good comic timing. All in all a pretty cool effort."