Don Giovanni

Herbert von Karajan, Conductor

Samuel Ramey, Ferrucio Furlanetto, Julia Varady, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Gösta Winbergh, Kathleen Battle, Alexander Malta, Paata Burchuladze
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Librettist: Lorenzo da Ponte

There are so many videos of Don Giovanni that it sometimes gets hard to compare them all, but this is one of the better ones available. The performance is conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who demonstrates a detailed understanding of the score.

Samuel Ramey shows us a relatively lighthearted Don, less darkly threatening than Cesare Siepi and less of a smooth talker than Thomas Allen. In this performance more than any other you get the feeling that women are just a sport or a joke to the Don. The role doesn't even approach the limits of Ramey's vocal range - everything he sings is technically flawless as well as being good in a dramatic sense.

My favorite performer in this video is Ferrucio Furlanetto, who is possibly the best Leporello of all time. He's got the rich, deep voice to hold his own next to Ramey, and he gives the most sympathetic interpretation of the character I've seen or heard. His Leporello is neither a good man nor completely a rogue, but somewhere in between. He obviously thinks it's hilarious to tease Elvira in the catalogue aria, yet shows genuine pity for her in the Act II trio in which he seduces her in place of his master. No other performer presents these two sides of the character so seamlessly. Most of the other Leporello's one sees and hears are either comic buffoons or despicable rogues, interpretations that are legitimate in their own right but offer fewer dramatic possibilities.

Jula Varady takes a strong and passionate approach to Donna Elvira, something I like about her performance. Her first aria, and the scene following it in which she tries to stab Giovanni, were particularly well done. "Mi tradi" was also good, but Varady never quite reaches Te Kanawa's burning passion or Della Casa's exquisite sorrow.

Interestingly enough, an Anna played Donna Anna - Anna Tomowa-Sintow to be exact. She was good in the role, a bit histrionic perhaps, but this worked well against the Ottavio of Gösta Winberg. Her voice wobbled a bit on the coloratura part of "Non mi dir," and I don't think her voice is entirely suited to any kind of coloratura role - she's better off sticking with stuff like Puccini, long, soaring arias. The notes are there but the agility isn't.

The more times I watch Gösta Winberg's performance as Don Ottavio, the more I like it. While Anton Dermota will always be my favorite, Winbergh handles his two arias with a fine sense of the emotion behind the role. His "Il mio tesoro" in particular was very passionate and is worth seeing. He definitely put some thought into this role.

Kathleen Battle is quite good in the role of Zerlina. Her voice is exquisite and her acting style, which usually gets on my nerves, didn't seem to detract too much from her performance. Her Zerlina was naïve in the extreme, yet still knew exactly how to win over her Masetto.

Alexander Malta gives a very interesting performance as Masetto. He looks and seems much older than Battle's Zerlina, and he somehow manages to be both intelligent and gentle. His Masetto always knows exactly what is going on - his only mistake is handing "Leporello" his weapons, and you can see him mentally kicking himself for that afterward. He knows perfectly well that Zerlina has him on a leash but doesn't mind. It's an interesting performance. Malta's voice is a somewhat growly bass, and he sings the role well.

Paata Burchuladze does well in the role of the Commendatore. He looks and sounds quite forbidding as the statue in the final scene despite the weird staging.

The staging is quite effective for the most part, but still we have a statue rather than an actual Commendatore. Well, to be perfectly accuarate, the singer is actually standing on the pedestal - an improvement over the La Scala staging - but he also seems to be behind a statue body so that only his head actually shows. Why do they do things like this? For the best staging of the final scene you have to watch the 1954 movie conducted by Furtwangler. (You can also watch the excellent movie Amadeus - their staging of this scene was what drew me to opera in the first place.)

The outer-space background in the part where Giovanni is dragged into Hell is a bit odd at first but it does effectively enhance the atmosphere of the scene, particularly when it turns red. I'd say it was an experiment with pretty good results.