MOZART - Don Giovanni
Mozart was delighted to find that Prague had taken his previous opera Le nozze di Figaro very much to its heart, so it is perhaps not surprising that his next, again a collaboration with Lorenzo da Ponte, was premiered in that city in October 1787. It tells the story of Don Juan (Giovanni), who, after numerous sexual conquests throughout Europe, kills the Commendatore, father of his latest victim, Donna Anna. Aided by her betrothed, Don Ottavio, and Donna Elvira, another of Giovanni’s conquests, she tries to trap him. But it is Giovanni’s arrogance which secures his fate, when he jokingly invites the statue of the Commendatore to dinner. In one of all opera’s greatest scenes the statue duly arrives; and when Giovanni shakes its hand he is dragged down to eternal damnation. This recording was made in 1984 to celebrate 50 years of opera at Glyndebourne and stars Thomas Allen in the title role supported by a roster of Glyndebourne’s favourite singers. Bernard Haitink conducts the resident chorus and orchestra (the London Philharmonic).

0946 3 58638 2 6 (3CDs)
0946 3 58638 5 7 (Digital Download)