This was the first recorded complete Don Giovanni, made at the Glyndebourne Festival’s third season, and it remains a very special performance indeed. The wonderful Fritz Busch leads a theatrical, warm, smiling performance, filled with real people, and the performance lives. It is not a set that easily lends itself to excerpts, and there are few “star turn” moments; rather, whole scenes simply click and the opera moves along as convincingly as any on disc. John Brownlee sings very well as the Don, and if he is not the last word in charm, he’s among the first in clarity and singularity of purpose. As his servant, Salvatore Baccaloni, a young man at the time, is ideal–never too unctuous, always entertaining, occasionally touching.
Koloman von Pataky is a good Ottavio without knocking any others out of the park, and the other men sound as if they actually lived at Glyndebourne rather than Seville–veddy proper. Ina Souez is a potent, accurate Anna; Luise Helletsgruber misses a few notes and finds no joy in Elvira, but she’s very believeable nonetheless; and Audrey Mildmay (as Zerlina) is a bit precious for my taste. The sound on this remaster is the best ever, though still very “historical”. As a document this is invaluable; as a performance it’s quite something as well. As a bonus, Naxos includes some arias from the opera recorded in the 1920s and ’30s; Ezio Pinza is an amazing Don, Richard Tauber’s Ottavio is suavity itself, and Feodor Chaliapin’s Leporello is practically visible. A nice lagniappe.
