Don Giovanni Overture

[9InfernoDrako]

The opera of operas;The conductor of conductors?...

[gtelloz]

what year is this???

[tlagudtjq]

@gtelloz 1954. And it's August.

[tlagudtjq]

GREAT!!!!!

[tennismom0416]

Just saw Don Giovani last night. It was totally amazing! I never liked opera until I saw this production. Every word was sung in English so you could understand what was going on! Mostly though, the music is soooo beautiful. It is not an understatement to say that Mozart is the greatest musical genius of all times!

[hadedorus]

2:51 ... totally orgasmic...

[saurau]

the rallentato at 5:10 is effortless but enormously dramatic. Crazy

[Freudboy]

What is so unclear about his baton technique???? By the way, get the complete video of this Don Giovanni on DG. Will there ever be as great a conductor as Furtwaengler? NEVER!!!!

[ArnarStyr]

Looks like he is thinking about sex at 1.20-1.40 ;D

[AGNELLIVS]

and how contemporaries might compare the music of Mozart with music

Antonio Salieri - Axur, Re D'ormus - Ouverture?

[gmsanna25]

For my habit is a bit .... I don't want to say slow....but whatever......WHAT A CONDUCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....and usually, a combination of geniuses like, in this case Mozart and Furtwangler.....well.....nothi­ng can be better........

[VardaTruffle]

Furtwangler? More like Furtwanker.

[rtrfm]

@VardaTruffle How rude!

[Vincenzo2010an]

the best condutor ever!

[MrAlgykcho]

This is the first & only Colourful Furtwangler film I ever seen.

[123must]

the greatest of past century: Carlos Kleiber was right beeing himself one of the better!

Many thanks for posting this masterpiece of conducting.

[danutpopescu1]

superb!

[TiwazBaldur]

MAESTRO!

[PraiseH]

what happened at 4:39?

is there a break in the playback?

[mahler151]

Cool, I remember watching the whole thing of this when I was young and had no idea who Mozart was.........what awful days those were.

[kovekvx]

Sorry Bread but are you crazy? Maybe do you prefer a british conductor?

Only Furtwangler and Klemperer!

[BreadKo]

He looks like an aging muppet marionette...not the best conductor ever. : /

[deterio7]

sound more like wagner then mozart

[J0nyWalker]

this is the best Don Giovanny production out there. Trust me i've seen more than 4. BUY IT. Unbelievable, thank you for uploading this.

[berlinman46]

BRAVO MAESTRO

[mymusicdiscovery]

Is there film of the whole opera with him?

[vantrifan]

yes with siepi as Don Giovanni

[kandutery]

yes

[sam0xin]

I have no idea about founder of BPO !

But I'm SURE that founder of QUALITY

of TONE & IN GENERAL was WILHELM FURTWANGLER ! FANTASTIC MASTER....

[1401JSC]

What instrument plays the low trumpet Ds near the beginning?

[CyanCygnus]

Thank you so much for posting!

Furtwangler is the Best!

[billyguns2]

The gravitas of the opening is quite remarkable; for once this music has the proper weight, tempo, and atmosphere! The shift to D Major for once doesn't feel hectic either. The dialogue that ensues and points up the "dramma giocosa" is clear as crystal. Nice to see Furtwangler in color, too.

[francescaemc2]

@billyguns2

stick to your guns, billy! the D major shift is flawles!!! it is drama giocosa...but I can't spell flawless....

[TedMichaelMorgan]

@billyguns2 Splendid comment. Thank you.

[mymusicdiscovery]

mexrahi33: Furwangler only used electric guitars for Strauss. Get it right!

[sam0xin]

I Get it ..... right !  Nice Joke !!!

[tonebarry]

Very good, but the banjos are a rather too loud.

[mezrahi33]

I think you make a mistake, there are no banjos, only electric guitars.

[tonebarry]

And the vibraphone is so subtle it is almost not there at all.

[mymusicdiscovery]

mexrahi33: Furwangler only used electric guitars for Strauss. Get it right!

[SonofDostojevskij]

Banjos, eletric gutars, wtf are you talking about?

[neapolis1982]

è davvero come sentire Dio leggere la Genesi...

[utna90]

Just watching his hands can lead you into ecstasy! He is like a psychic meditating Mozart's genius.

[bojan34]

Hey the fuerer is playing the bongo's!

[kandutery]

Furtwangler: simply the best.

[LudwigZhi]

How come it's colored? And the picture quality is so good?

[kandutery]

germany have video colored since the 30´s. Look the nazi propaganda videos, most in colour.

[gssq]

From what I've seen most of them are B&W

[NnFfBb]

It is so nice to see him in color. Thanks.

[RowBadMovies]

I do so love this opera.

[ALEMANHAMER]

EXCELENTE!!!!

[whippet19]

De la musique, de la vraie, un opéra de Mozart, la perfection, magnifique!

Cela semble un peu lent? Je trouve que cette ouverture offre diverses possibilités d'interprétation, et, même si l'excès dans la lenteur semble - à certains - évident, c'est bien qu'il y ait une grande version ainsi.

Du reste, cette version est grandiose aussi au niveau de la mise-en-scène; un tour rapide à la scène du commandeur suffit...

Pour l'anecdote, je ne me souviens d'avoir jamais vu une baguette aussi longue!

[amadeussalzburg]

better to listen to than see....

[mistralmaster]

orrible.

[kandutery]

why?

[smurkledunk]

Yeah why?!?!?!?!?

[guitoulamalice]

C'est le meilleur, le plus passionné Le Chef d'orchestre dans la pure lignée de Toscanini. Pas de tiédeur: l'engagement total loin du cul coincé de Karayan....

[Lisihaldir]

Wonderful

[ghbook]

Little Hans rules !

[zdarakjian]

It was said of Carlos Kleiber that watching him condcut was like listening to Homer reading the Iliad. Then, listening to Furtwangler conduct this piece is like listening to God reading Genesis...

[2ndviolinist]

@zdarakjian Carlos would have been well served to watch his father.

[francescaemc2]

@zdarakjian

WORD!!!!!!

[willyevans]

Excellent. Thanks for posting this video!

[Freudboy]

The greatest conductor of them all.

[sstuddert]

nope, the greatest conductor is Karajan

[Nachtmarchen]

If Karajan is the apex of conducting, Kenny G is the non-plus-ultra of jazz. Karajan was bland and anemic in his approach to music, utterly failed when he was faced with Mozart or Tchaikovksy, self-absorbed and too concerned with furthering his own career. His early stuff was great, but from the 60s on the progressively became worse, incredibly overrated - only those who never looked into classical would name him the greatest ever.

[sstuddert]

I wouldn't go that far. yes, he sort of lost his touch as he got older but he was still very, very good in the early 60's.

[mltube]

There are probably 100 conductors that I could put before Fluffy, but only few that can reach the level of Furty.

[o0Prometheus0o]

Nop, the greastest conductor is Furtwängler ¡¡¡¡. Karajan fue un mediocre. No sirve de nada grabar centenas de grabaciones si en la mayoría no fue capaz de descubrir la esencia de la composición del autor al que interpretaba. Saludos.

[sstuddert]

how about you reply in English?

[2ndviolinist]

@Freudboy Several others may be in the running - Mengelberg, Stokowski, and Stock top my list.

[hamjii]

It's from Salzburg Festival performance, filmed in August, 1954.

[nathanfornash]

Wow, such good colour in 1954? Amazing! I would have thought colour video didn't come along til much after Furtwangler's death. Thanks for this video.

[kandutery]

germany make films in perfect colour in the 30´s. You can see nazi propaganda videos in colour in you tube.

[sstuddert]

Colour film was around since the 20's.

[princecrocodyle]

@hamjii

awesome research, thanks for the info! I JUST thought how VERY Fifties those strings (some 45 seconds into the piece) sound when I read your posting!

[HalWeller]

More detail about this video (date/place/etc.) would be welcomed!

[wxsty]

you'll be disappointed

this is the only extant video of that performance

[simonjayrocker]

Wow it's colour