BaL 7.07.18 - Mozart: Don Giovanni

[visualnickmos]

That wouldn't upset me at all.

Best answer! Very rarely - very rarely indeed, have I felt the need to abide by a BaL 'winner'..... and certainly NEVER felt deflated when a particular fav. of mine has been ignored, or cast out as trash!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

… and then find that they all get slated!

Furtwangler - and Klemperer - have both received favourable comments in similar repertoire (well, similar-ish: Beethoven's Eroica) from Kenyon on a past BaL, so if they do get mentioned on this one, I doubt that they'll be "slated". (But neither will "win".)

[visualnickmos]

Furtwangler - and Klemperer - have both received favourable comments in similar repertoire (well, similar-ish: Beethoven's Eroica) from Kenyon on a past BaL, so if they do get mentioned on this one, I doubt that they'll be "slated". (But neither will "win".)

Quite. I can't imagine WF ever being slated* - not that I'm a particular 'fan' of his.

* I was of course, being rather 'tongue in cheek!'

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And interesting start to the review, with a reference to one of the great classics, followed by a predictable aren't-I-clever-I-can-play-it-tastelessly-faster-than-you rushed alternative. Now before anyone suggests I'm anti-HIPP, the Jacobs excerpt showed no such deficiencies.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Furtwangler - and Klemperer - have both received favourable comments in similar repertoire (well, similar-ish: Beethoven's Eroica) from Kenyon on a past BaL, so if they do get mentioned on this one, I doubt that they'll be "slated". (But neither will "win".)

... but, on the other hand ...

[Barbirollians]

... but, on the other hand ...

Unless I have missed it no reference yet to Giulini

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Unless I have missed it no reference yet to Giulini

You missed it twice.

Now mentioned again...

[Barbirollians]

You missed it twice.

Now mentioned again..,

That’s my new very loud speedy kettle !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

That’s my new very loud speedy kettle !

[Ein Heldenleben]

As soon as I heard it was Nick Kenyon I knew Guilini wouldn't make the cut . Heigh - ho...

[Barbirollians]

It seems Sir Nick admitted that it was a modern version he was looking for .

[DracoM]

Good Grief...was that it?
What a fantastically disappointing BAL!!

[Ein Heldenleben]

All the Guilini recording has is three of the greatest singers of the post war era ...

[zola]

If Kenyon had an agenda to select a 'modern' recording, several forumistas seem to have an agenda to find offence regardless, to fit in with their prejudice against the reviewer. This may I remind you, was the final verdict with commendations for Krips and Giulini.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piece: Don Giovanni

Reviewer: Nicholas Kenyon


Recommended Recording:

Ildebrando D’arcangelo (Don Giovanni)
Luca Pisaroni (Leporello)
Diana Damrau (Donna Anna)
Joyce DiDonata (Donna Elvira)
Rolando Villazón (Don Ottavio)
Mojca Erdmann (Zerlina)
Konstantin Wolff (Masetto)
Vitalij Kowaljow (Commendatore)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin
DG 477 9878 (3 CDs)



Other Recommended Recordings:



Below are other recordings that Nicholas Kenyon also liked, although we can’t guarantee availability.

Vienna Philharmonic & Vienna State Opera Chorus
Josef Krips
Decca 4781389

Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini (conductor)
EMI CDC 747260-2


English baroque Soloists & Monteverdi Choir
John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

DG Archiv 4458702

[Ein Heldenleben]

Was I mis-hearing or was the Norrington HIPP recording of the DG opening played directly after the vintage recording surprisingly sharper in pitch rather than , as I would have expected, flatter ?