Metropolitan Opera Preview: Don Giovanni

Peter Mattei returns as Mozart's priapic nobleman.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Peter Mattei (with knife) and Luca Pisaroni are partners in crime in Don Giovanni.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

Don Giovanni may be Mozart's crowning achievement. The opera is a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy, with the Don's pedal-to-the-metal approach to wooing women resulting in a terrifying and fiery end. Mozart's mastery of light and dark is leavened with some of the composer's most memorable tunes, including the "Catalogue song", the "Champagne aria" and that jaw-dropping finale.
Mr. Grandage's Don takes an urban focus, with the darkened streets of Seville dominating the action. Christopher Oram's rotating set consists of high, curved tiers of louvred doors, as if the opera had suddenly been transported to a seedy hotel in the French Quarter. Some of the ideas (the Catalogue Song, the fire effects) work, others (the unnecessary amplification of the Commendatore) do not.
When Michael Grandage's 2011 production of Don Giovanni bowed at the Metropolitan Opera, the bass Peter Mattei sung the title role as a late replacement for Mariusz Kwiecien. Here, Mr. Mattei returns to the title role, paired with the Leporello of Luca Pisaroni. The cast also features Elza van den Heever, Emma Bell, Kate Lindsey and the redoubtable James Morris as the vengeful Commendatore. New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert crosses Lincoln Center Plaza to conduct this revival.
Don Giovanni opens Feb. 4, 2015.
Recording Recommendations
Don Giovanni is one of the most frequently recorded Mozart operas, and many fine recordings are available. Here are three that I like.
Vienna Philharmonic cond. Josef Krips (Decca, 1955) Don Giovanni: Cesare Siepi Leporello: Fernando Corena Donna Anna: Suzanne Danco
Donna Elvira: Lisa della Casa Il Commendatore: Kurt Böhme One of the first stereo recordings of this opera, the Krips recording captures singers of a different age in the fertile ground of Vienna, just a decade after the war. Siepi and Corena play the roles of master and servant with gusto, and the conducting is terrific.

Philharmonia Orchestra cond. Carlo Maria Giulini (EMI, 1959) Don Giovanni: Eberhard Wächter Leporello: Giuseppe Taddei Donna Anna: Joan Sutherland Donna Elvira: Elizabeth Schwarzkopf Il Commendatore: Gottlob Frick It's over 50 years old, and still the bench-mark. Carlo Maria Giulini is a brilliant conductor with the right blend of comic drive and high drama. The all-star cast (which also featurs Piero Cappucilli and Luigi Alva) was assembled by producer Walter Legge, a feat unimaginable today.

Chamber Orchestra of Europe cond. Claudio Abbado (DG, 1998)
Don Giovanni: Simon Keenlyside
Leporello: Bryn Terfel
Donna Anna Carmela Remigio
Donna Elvira: Soile Isokoski
Il Commendatore: Matti Salminen
This was Bryn Terfel's third recording of the opera, and his first as Leporello. (He was the Don for Solti's recording, and also recorded Masetto.) The Welsh baritone seems much more comfortable as the Don's slippery servant, and gives a great reading of this part. Abbado's conducting is spot on, as is Matti Salminen's terrifying Commendatore.

Tickets for Don Giovanni are available at MetOperaFamily.Org, by calling (212) 362-6000, or at the box office.