Avanti – 26. Mai 2021

This is the second fine Don Giovanni we have had within the past year. Like Gardiner (Archiv), Mackerras includes every note Mozart wrote for both the original Prague version and the Viennese revival. Moreover, it is easier than ever for listeners to ‘programme in’ their preferred version: all Prague die-hards have to do is to bypass Don Ottavio’s ‘Dalla sua pace’ in Act I – a beautiful aria, in all conscience, though it holds up the dramatic action at a crucial stage. By coaxing a modern orchestra into a real awareness of period style, Mackerras seems to have the best of both worlds: the playing has admirable liveliness and intensity, and there are none of the intonation problems that so often plague actual period instruments.

It is an elegantly comic performance with a light orchestral sound, brisk tempi and lighter voices than usual. This is not to say that the reading is lacking in gravitas and there are many felicitous moments. It is a good cast, headed by Håkan Hagegård in the title role. His Giovanni is a little lacking in menace, but is full of volatile energy and sung in a suave baritone voice. The standout performance is the Leporello of the French-Swiss bass-baritone Gilles Cachemaille; the quick and pointed recitatives between him and Hagegård really fizz and his Catalogue aria is a masterpiece of breath control. The two leading ladies are interestingly cast; Arleen Auger’ lighter-voiced than most Donna Annas, produces a rich, creamy sound, while the mezzo Della Jones is a fiery Donna Elvira, with the pungency of her high notes especially impressive.

Raimondi has advantages: the dark coloring of his voice, the vocal menace, the power of his bass." The three ladies - especially the Te Kanawa has become livelier, more insistent - Maazel has the singers and Mozart firmly in hand.

– Hermes Lexikon