Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker
DVD9 | 2:57:05 | MPEG2 | NTSC | 720x480 | 4:3 | 29.97fps | PCM Mono | 7.4GB
Language: Italian | Sub: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese
Classical | Opera | Deutsche Gramophon | 0730199
In 1954, Furtwängler wanted to make of this Don Juan his musical testimony (he died less than 1 year efter this recording), in a "metaphysical ", reserved but alive version, of a unique dramatic strength.
Thanks to the technique still in its beginning of the Movie-opera, we discover in Siepi a Don Juan full of liveliness and in the physical appearance of Hollywood actor, Della Casa so beautiful wasting away in Elvire, or divinely moving Grümmer.
And at the end there is Furtwängler's equally unfashionable reading, romantic and big-honed, taking its time to unfold the drama. Furtwängler definitely tilts the Mozart's "Dramma Giocoso" towards "dramma" aspect, making this performance the most riveting ever seen.
Even if the recording suffers from the technical limits of time (a little faded colors Technicolor), the correct conditions allow us to discover what the spectators of 1954 had seen: a old-fashioned and traditional but alive performance, which gives substance to one of the most mythical and of the most tremendous recordings of Don Giovanni.
Maybe the best Don Giovanni on DVD.
Don Giovanni (Il Dissoluto Punito ossia il Don Giovanni)
Dramma Giocoso in 2 acts, K. 527
Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1st performance: October 29, 1787, Nostitz Theater, Prague
Cast:
Don Giovanni: Cesare Siepi (baryton)
Donna Anna: Elisabeth Grümmer (soprano)
Donna Elvira: Lisa Della Casa (soprano)
Zerlina: Erna Berger (soprano)
Don Ottavio: Anton Dermota (tenor)
Leporello: Otto Edelmann (bass)
Masetto: Walter Berry (bass)
Commandatore: Deszö Ernster (bass)
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Stage director Herbert Graf
Film director Paul Czinner
Filmed in 1954 in Salzburg
DG DVD 073 019-9GH
Screenshots
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
Mozart: Don Giovanni - Furtwängler, Wiener Philarmoniker (DVD9, 1954)
