Sextet from Don Giovanni (Furtwängler)

[operalover67]

after don giovanni at la scala 2011 i needed to go back yo a true don giovanni

[operalover67]

above all here is anton dermota..great mozart tenor in the fifties..

[unadka]

Nadvse cenim Antona Dermoto.

[DaniloHL]

O que é esse sotaque inglês??? verytà?

[ekonvollm]

Eine legendäre Aufnahme der Salzburger Festspiele! Alle Sänger/innen sind in Höchstform und auch Furtwängler ist als Dirigent einmalig.

[mckavitt]

Della Casa's entry just turns my heart over. Such beautiful singing--and her acting is touching too, revealing Elvira's emotional fragility and moral strentgh in the face of true adversity.

[safeinpants]

Interesting that Furtwangler's tendency to speed up and slow down within numbers has been copied today by HIP Mozart conductors, like Jacobs and Harnoncourt. Whereas non-HIP conductors may pick slower tempi but are less "Furtwangler-esque".

I do find something a little monochromatic about Furtwangler's approach to Mozart, not so much the slowness but the string-heavy balances. I prefer Klemperer's similarly slow Mozart because he brought the woodwinds forward & created more variety of sound.

[pjdonagh]

I am, within reason, in the speed up/slow down camp. I feel that it allows the artists to shape their music and is in general more interesting for the listener. Each to his/her own of course.

Your "monochromatic" crit is certainly justified here though. I wonder if the fault lies more with the recording than the conductor! I am sure that on other Furtwangler (especially Beethoven) recordings there is a much more natural or less string heavy emphasis.

[TedMichaelMorgan]

My father took me to see this when I was 11 or 12. I never forgot it. Changed my life. I fell in love with Lida della Casa.

[sprichbeeke]

The same happend to me...in Germany at 13 or 14...but I fell in love with Cesare Siepi.

Instilled permanent love for Mozart and Opera in general!

[francescaemc2]

@sprichbeeke

Siepi ERA Don Giovanni!!

[anzolettilino]

@sprichbeeke i love Siepi too, he is great as don giovanni

[mckavitt]

@TedMichaelMorgan Who hasn't? :)

[Dogaradodia]

Certified Intergalactic!

[wolfgangtheophilus]

ok, not problem

[wolfgangtheophilus]

I have this DVD, Grummer and Della Cassa are fabolous, but acting nothing, what a pity!

[nnmakowska]

I wouldn't say so. Surely, by today's standards they may seem static, but they do act charmingly. What I really love is Grummer's first entrance, how she struggles with Siepi, or interacts with Ernster.

[strauss1987]

Yes, by today's standards for sure. But who sings like this today?

[mltube]

Dela Casa's is perhaps the weakest character portrayal in this production: awkward and two-dimentional. Grummer is heavenly! Her acting is very expressive and the singing is perfection itself. The best Donna Anna I ever saw or heard.

[mckavitt]

@mltube I love Grümmer singing, but in my opinion, she can't hold a candle to Della Casa as far as acting is concerned. But i am interested in your lauding of the former's Donna Anna and will watch more carefully next time. Thanks.

[lehrent]

@mckavitt She'd better not. Della Casa's acting is so wooden here that holding to her a candle would present a fire hazard :-)

[tannenbergbund]

The magnificent Furtwaengler!

[Acquacheta]

Mio padre ha il vinile (Deutsche Grammophone) precisamente di questo meraviglioso don Giovanni diretto da Furtwangler.

[TedMichaelMorgan]

I insisted my father take me to see this when I was eleven or twelve. I knew it would be something wonderful. It was and still is.

My dad had taken me to see a Bardot movie and she was okay, but I was in love with Lisa della Casa.

[griegs2001]

Exactly how I like it.

54 years ago, but their performance will live forever.

[StevePalRP]

Pure Genius!

The best sextet in opera history,

and the best opera in the history of opera.

[amballa]

What a Don Ottavio! Marvelous!

[gunmenow]

i actually have the dvd, the first opera dvd i've ever bought, great performance

[junodavid]

So beautiful!

[beunt]

8 mn of pure enchantment, thanks a lot !

[cleanears]

what great casts... "once upon a time"

[einbenutzer]

fantastic! Lisa Della Casa was a great Elvira and such a beauty

[mouthmouse]

It's my favorite extract from the opera and for me it's the best version of this extract

[jkrafzik]

Great performance!

[Selkaen]

I don't know, on my browser it seems to work just fine. Maybe you just need to wait until the video is fully loaded.

[paulostroff99]

Cuts off after exactly 15 seconds!