Saying that this is a great Don Giovanni, a great Furtwängler Don Giovanni, and one of the greatest Don Giovanni's of the twentieth century is hardly to exaggerate the importance of this recording. Made on July 27, 1953, at the Salzburg Festival, it preserves a performance by one of the best casts ever assembled for the opera -- Cesare Siepi, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Grummer, Anton Dermota, Otto Edelmann, Erna Berger, and Walter Berry -- backed by the best orchestra for the opera -- the Vienna Philharmonic -- and led by surely the greatest German conductor of the twentieth century. Under Furtwängler, the singers and players create a Don Giovanni that is fiery, passionate, romantic, metaphysical, and occasionally hilarious. While some listeners might legitimately prefer a lighter or funnier performance of Don Giovanni, and other listeners might prefer a cleaner or clearer recording of Don Giovanni, anyone who loves the work or the conductor will love this performance and, despite its conspicuous blemishes, this recording. Indeed, for those who love Furtwängler, the question will be whether or not to get a third Furtwängler Don Giovanni. Already in circulation are two performances from the 1954 Salzburg Festival with mostly the same stellar cast, one a sound recording and one a video recording of surprisingly good quality. Of course, for the true Furtwängler aficionado, the opportunity to hear the fabled 1953 Don Giovanni will be irresistible so the question is essentially moot.
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