Warner Classics: Mozart — Don Giovanni, Harnoncourt / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 3CD

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD (3-disc set)
• Brand / Label: Warner Classics / Teldec Classics
• Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
• Chorus: Koor van De Nederlandse Opera
• Principal Cast: Thomas Hampson (Don Giovanni), Edita Gruberova (Donna Anna), Roberta Alexander (Donna Elvira), Barbara Bonney (Zerlina), Hans Peter Blochwitz (Don Ottavio), László Polgár (Leporello), Anton Scharinger (Masetto), Robert Holl (Il Commendatore)
• Original Recording: 1989 (Teldec Classics)
• This Edition: 2016 (Parlophone Records Limited / Warner Music Group)
• Genre: Classical, Opera
• Style: Mozart Opera, Dramma Giocoso
• Catalog Number: 0190295934798
• UPC: 0190295934798
• Condition: Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: 3 × CD
• Discs: 3
• CD1 Runtime: 73:49
• CD2 Runtime: 50:33
• CD3 Runtime: 57:48
• Total Runtime: approx. 3 hours 2 minutes
• Booklet: Synopsis and text in English, German, and French
• Packaging: Standard triple jewel case, factory shrink-wrapped

Overview

Harnoncourt's Don Giovanni with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of the most distinctive Mozart opera recordings of its era — and one of the most debated. Where many conductors smooth out the dramma giocoso's contradictions, Harnoncourt leans into them: the comedy is genuinely comic, the darkness is genuinely dark, and the transitions between the two arrive with a sharpness that keeps the listener off balance in exactly the right way.

Thomas Hampson's Don Giovanni is charismatic and dangerous in equal measure, his baritone carrying both the seduction and the menace without tipping into caricature. László Polgár's Leporello is a sonorous counterweight — sharp comic timing, real vocal weight. Edita Gruberova brings her formidable technique to Donna Anna, and Barbara Bonney is an unusually bright and characterful Zerlina. The Concertgebouw plays with the kind of precision and tonal richness that Harnoncourt draws from them consistently, and the 1989 Teldec recording has been cleanly reissued here by Warner Classics in 2016 with a multilingual booklet.

At just over three hours across three discs, this is the complete opera with nothing trimmed. For serious Mozart and opera collectors, the Harnoncourt/Concertgebouw reading is essential listening — not necessarily the most comfortable account, but one of the most honest.

Interesting Facts

• Don Giovanni premiered in Prague on 29 October 1787, just weeks after Mozart completed it; the Vienna premiere the following year required several revisions, and most recordings — including this one — draw on both versions.
• Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929–2016) was a pioneer of the historically informed performance movement, but his approach to Don Giovanni here with a modern symphony orchestra shows how his interpretive instincts transcended period-instrument practice.
• Thomas Hampson (born 1955, Elkhart, Indiana) is one of the most recorded baritones of his generation; his Don Giovanni is consistently cited as one of his signature roles.
• Edita Gruberova (1946–2021), the Slovak soprano, was renowned above all for her coloratura precision and breath control — qualities that make her Donna Anna among the most technically impeccable on disc.
• László Polgár (1947–2010) was a Hungarian bass who built much of his career in the Netherlands and German-speaking houses; his Leporello here is widely regarded as one of the finest on record.
• The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, founded in Amsterdam in 1888, is consistently ranked among the top five orchestras in the world; its acoustic warmth and ensemble blend are immediately audible in these recordings.

Cast

• Don Giovanni — Thomas Hampson
• Il Commendatore — Robert Holl
• Donna Anna — Edita Gruberova
• Don Ottavio — Hans Peter Blochwitz
• Donna Elvira — Roberta Alexander
• Leporello — László Polgár
• Zerlina — Barbara Bonney
• Masetto — Anton Scharinger

Publishers

Originally recorded and released in 1989 by Teldec Classics, a Warner Music UK Division. This edition © 2016 Parlophone Records Limited, a Warner Music Group Company.

Added this to your Mozart collection? A short note helps other opera lovers decide.