Sometimes 5 stars don't tell the whole story

There are things, at least in recorded music, that cannot be comprised within a scale. They go beyond that and give the measure by which you can assign value to similar things. This recording is definitely one of those.

First is the overall impression. It is vivacious, humorous, so real in communicating the facts of life it contains. It is also so Mozartian. Mozart in a very inspired work of his. There are of course some things that can explain this accomplishment at this scale.

I will start with the conductor. As his many landmark recordings stand proof, Giulini is one of those rare conductors that can get in the mind and heart of the composer and express in perfect shapes the thoughts and feelings their music comprise. He also has an extraordinary sense of drama and this helps everywhere in music making and more so in opera. Last but not least he has a real gift for casting. I am not aware of all of his recordings but those I know follow the rule of very inspired casting. Just the way he casted Taddei and Wachter in this and Don Giovani recording and is a very convincing proof of that. And everything I mentioned is visible in this recording. Don't make the mistake of considering Bohm over Giulini. He is an outstanding Mozartian but the theater wasn't the most inspiring place for him. You won't find there the same drama and vivaciousness although the music is beautiful nonetheless.

Then you have the voices. The first amazing thing is the way they actually can express things, act. The voices themselves are amazing. Everything said here about damme Schwarzkopf, Moffo and the leading male parts at least is true. The greatest thing for me though is the way they act and express things. The newer generations try to produce beautiful sound, great notes and so forth and little room is left for the actual expression of characters drama. And that is a minus of any of the newer versions.

So don't make the mistake of going for other sets. The only real competition for this set is Kleiber's 1955 account which has almost the same strengths but just a poorer sound. With the rest you will never go as much to the heart of the characters, of the conlicts, of the overall humor and life-like atmosphere.

And, if you didn't already, try Giulini's Don Giovanni and you will see the same things happening once more. This is no happening. Is real music making, opera coming from real, incredible talent and science.