Mozart: Don Giovanni (2014)

He was out to to create something 'unheard-of'', observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had offer as he commenced his Mozart/Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we 'had never before heard like this' (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, 'master' of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his 'original-sound orchestra' Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an 'enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!' (news.at). During an intensive phase of rehearsal and preparation, he was in search of a Mozart hermeneutic resting on historical sources and yet anchored in our own time, in order to stage the whole Da Ponte 'trilogy' – Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte – in a matter of a mere six weeks. 'The culmination of Harnoncourt's involvement with [Mozart's Da Ponte operas] – „A Mozart drawn from historical sources and yet anchored in our own time.' (Die Presse) PART II: Don Giovanni+ Documentary: Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Between Obsession and Perfection (Don Giovanni)