Mozart: Don Giovanni

This is, in the opinion of many critics, the best recording of the greatest of all operas. The cast is a who's who of great singers from the early stereo era (1959) when the recording was made. At the top of the cast, the young Joan Sutherland, whose fresh, agile voice, opulent in tone even at the top of its range, had recently hit the international operatic scene like an earthquake. In the title role, Eberhard Waechter portrays a man obsessed with sex as a game that he must win at any cost--and keeps on losing. Giuiseppe Taddei brings depth and ingenuity to the comic role of the valet Leporello; Luigi Alva treats two of the greatest tenor arias ever written in limpid bel canto style; Carlo Maria Giulini leads a great orchestra with a superb, synergistic balance of musical and dramatic values. --Joe McLellan