Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni)(Video recording review)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Don Giovanni. DVD. Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Riccardo Muti. With Carlos Alvarez, Adrianne Pieczonka, Angelika Kirchschlager, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Michael Schade, Lorenzo Regazzo, and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo. Directed by Roberto de Simone. Ratingen, Germany: TDK, 2005. DVUS-OPDG. $26.99.

The seemingly timeless archetype embodied in the Don Juan legend actually received its first full dramatic setting in Tirso de Molina's El Burlador de Sevilla (1630). In addition to Mozart's Don Giovanni, versions of the story by Moliere, Byron, Dumas, Strauss, and Shaw subsequently solidified the character in the public imagination. In keeping with its historical popularity, Director Roberto de Simone chose to depict Mozart's version of the myth from a variety of chronological perspectives: Don Giovanni as time-traveler. Although the rational is ultimately unclear, the production portrays the common elements of the deceptive nature of the predatory seducer through the ages.

The work opens in sixteenth century Spain. Adrianne Pieczonka as Donna Anna, who gives a powerful vocal performance, is attired in Elizabethan era ruffles and Carlos Alvarez as Don Giovanni is similarly festooned in an opulent tunic, presumably imparting the court fashions of Molina's original production. With Anna Caterina Antonacci's entrance as Donna Elvira the narrative progresses to the seventeenth-century and Don Giovanni is an effetely wigged snuff sniffing courtier (one of seven major costume changes in the work). Ildebrando d'Arcangelo as Lepporello dons a distractingly oversized cap and appears in white-face throughout the production. Unfortunately, d'Arcangelo is miscast as Lepporello--his voice lacks the easy depth needed for the role and he is labored in his attempts at comic relief. Carlos Alverez as Giovanni, however, delivers a fine performance. His voice and demeanor remain controlled throughout, admirably suggesting the manipulative power and lack of true passion inherent in a sexual predator.

Act 2 moves into nineteenth-century pre-revolutionary France. Don Giovanni adopts the wide brimmed hat and starched collars befitting a man of his status. Unfortunately, the statue of the murdered Commendatore, sung adequately by Franz-Joseph Selig, ends up looking like a cheap cardboard portrait of Verdi in his top hat and cloak.