Don Giovanni (2006) (TV)

Director:

Karina Fibich

Writer:

Lorenzo da Ponte (writer)

Release Date:

15 August 2006 (Austria)

Genre:

Music

Plot:

Cast

Thomas Hampson	...	Don Giovanni
Ildebrando d'Arcangelo	...	Leporello
Christine Schäfer	...	Donna Anna
Melanie Diener	...	Donna Elvira
Isabel Bayrakdarian	...	Zerlina
Robert Lloyd	...	Der Komtur
Piotr Beczala	...	Don Ottavio
Luca Pisaroni	...	Masetto
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Saskia Aichberger	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Zoe Alibert	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Maria Erbschwendtner	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Gerith Holzinger	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Rahel Imbach	...	Prosperinas Schwestern
Manuela Legat	...	Prosperinas Schwestern
Lisa-Maria Medicke	...	Prosperinas Schwestern
Nadine Mühlböck	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Dana Proetsch	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Bettina Rebel	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Stefanie Rieder	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Silke Rinnerthaler	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Alina Rotter	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Hildegard Starlinger	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Elisabeth Umlauft	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Tina Weingärtner	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Alin Weismann	...	Porsperinas Schwestern
Carla Wrchota	...	Porsperinas Schwestern

Runtime:

Austria:191 min

Country:

Austria

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

Company:

Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images

Trivia:

The production is part of the Salzburg Festival's prestigious "Mozart 22" production all 22 works Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has composed for the stage due to the composer's 250th birthday celebrations in 2006. Three of which have been telecast: _Nozze di Figaro, Le (2006) (TV)_ , Die Zauberflöte (2006) (TV) and Don Giovanni.

Visible Panty Whine

I enjoyed this production despite its many drawbacks. The recording, from Salzberg in 2006 makes it sound as though you are listening from the back of the opera house. This is not a good thing for home listening where a more closely miked recording would be preferable. Here, vocal nuances are lost and the skills of the Vienna Philarmonic, under Daniel Harding are wasted.

The set consists of a brightly lit stage containing a lot of white doors. It is a revolving stage but, when it rotates, all we see is more white doors. The first act is physically uncomfortable to watch because of the glare but, fortunately, by the second act the lighting is more subdued. Occasionally, when the stage rotates we see a tableau of women in their bras and panties, reminiscent of the Windmill Theatre circa 1955. This is irritating and irrelevant but it is a minor irritation that I was able to ignore.

The effect of the bright lighting and minimal scenery is to make the dramatic action clearer than it often is in this opera. The three women and two men who pursue the Don can be little more than caricatures but here they are well-rounded and believable. I particularly enjoyed Christine Schäfer's Donna Anna and the Zerlina of Isabel Bayrakdarian. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is outstanding as Leporello. I have never seen a Leporello who is so contemptuous of his master. Usually, in the catalogue aria, there is an element of complicity or vicarious pleasure as his master's pan-European conquests are listed. Not so here, D'Arcangelo makes his disgust clear right from the start.

Thomas Hampson, as the Don, certainly makes a credible seducer. I remember this recording being criticised on Radio 3 when it came out because Hampson's baritone is allegedly too light for the role. Well, we hear with our eyes and see with our ears and, in performance, Hampson certainly looks and sounds a convincing Don. This is a brave performance. Hampson makes it clear that this Don, despite his charm is more a rapist than a seducer. He is also a coward. When attacked we see him hiding behind women's skirts or implicating Leporello to save his own skin.

The production seems to be heading for a low-key ending. It looks as though the Don is about to be dragged down to hell by devils in the form of statuesque German ladies wearing black bikinis. I was just thinking that there could be worse ways to go when something quite unexpected happens. The Don dies in a controversial way, one that I cannot reveal but which is totally believable, at least within the context of this production.