MOZART : DON GIOVANNI

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 22nd of March 2015 at  6.03 - 9.45 pm
Sunday 15th of December 2013 at 3.03 - 6.15 pm
Sunday 15th of April 2012 at 3.04-6.45 pm
Sunday 20th of September 2009 at 3 pm
Sunday 30th of November 2008 at 3 pm
Sunday 14th of October 2007 at 3 pm

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian)
LIBRETTO (English)
REVIEW (Roger Wilson)

MOZART: Don Giovanni, an opera in two acts,
subtitled 'The Rake punished'
The libertine Don Giovanni (Don Juan), whose main purpose in life is the seduction of women, gets his just reward: descent into the fires of Hell.

Don Giovanni.............. Peter Mattei
Donna Anna................. Elza van den Heever
Donna Elvira............... Emma Bell
Zerlina......................... Kate Lindsey
Don Ottavio................. Dmitry Korchak
Leporello..................... Luca Pisaroni
Masetto........................ Adam Plachetka
Commendatore............ James Morris
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Alan Gilbert

Fellow-opera-fiends,
Go to Hell, with Don Giovanni, who seems to have had a *monopoly (wink wink) on all the women!
Go straight to Hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 100 ducats.
But before you leave, and enter that infernal realm where all hope is to be abandoned, do lend an ear to this performance.

Don Juan is supposed to be young, and that is why his number of women he has loved and left is so stupendous. How did he fit them all in?

Yes, this lecherous (ig)nobleman's score in Hispania was a thousand and three, but a missed goal and a fall into Hell left him one short of 1004 (though he had a hefty account in Italy and other countries). Nevertheless, despite an enormous number of innings, Don Juan has never equaled Don Bradman (he could score 100 before lunch).

The servant Leporello, keeps count in the *libretto [little black book] containing the *score (though in opera the *score should always encompass the *libretto).

The NewYork Metropera notes are no longer good currency, so they have been buried in the basement down below. An Italian libretto is available (from Naxos), and from Opera Guide in German (choose D) or English (choose E) as well as Italian (I).

The movie we all know is Joseph Losey's production, and the centre of attraction and focus of attention is Kiri Te Kanawa, as Elvira (decked out in finery that rivaled her bright seraphic accoutrement for the royal wedding).

The only staged version of Don Giovanni that I have seen (believe it or not) was in Melbourne in 1967 (by the way, Rosemary Gordon was Elvira). It was a dark monochrome setting, played out on a chessboard, and meant to follow the rules of chess, but that idea was checkmated by the performers. Was Donna Anna the White Queen, and Elvira the Black Queen? Then was Zerlina a rook, a bishop, or a knight, or a mere pawn? Black King Giovanni, and White King Ottavio? But neither of them was married, and could not have a royal consort. Most of the characters would of necessity be pawns. The young director, Jim Sharman, must have been confusing it with The Magic Flute, Mozart's masonic opera; as we know, Freemasons have black and white squares on their temple floors.

 Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 15th of December 2013 at 3.03 - 6.15 pm
Don Giovanni................... Ildebrando d'Arcangelo
Commendatore................. Vitalij Kowaljow
Donna Anna..................... Diana Damrau
Don Ottavio..................... Rolando Villazón
Donna Elvira.................... Joyce DiDonato
Leporello.......................... Luca Pisaroni
Masetto............................. Konstantin Wolff
Zerlina.............................. Mojca Erdmann
Rastatt Vocal Ensemble & Mahler CO/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
(DG 477 9878) 
 
Sunday 15th of April 2012 at 3.04-6.45 pm
Don Giovanni………... Gerald Finley
Donna Anna…………. Marina Rebeka
Donna Elvira………… Ellie Dehn
Zerlina……………….. Isabel Leonard
Leporello…………….. Bryn Terfel
Il Commendatore……. James Morris
Don Ottavio…………. Matthew Polenzani
Masetto……………… Shenyang
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Andrew Davis
 The arch-seducer is played here by Gerald Finley (Dr Atomic!); his hapless servant is Bryn Terfel (Wotan), and the statue who comes to dinner is James Morris (another Wotan)

Sunday 20th of September 2009 at 3 pm
MOZART: Don Giovanni, an opera in two acts
Don Giovanni................ Ildebrando d'Arcangelo
Commendatore............. Eric Halfvarson
Donna Anna.................. Ricarda Merbeth
Don Ottavio.................. Michael Schade
Donna Elvira................. Soile Isokoski
Leporello...................... René Pape
Masetto........................ Boaz Daniel
Zerlina........................... Michaela Selinger
Vienna State Opera Chorus & Orch/Constantinos Carydis
(recorded in the State Opera, Vienna)

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 30th of November 2008 at 3 pm
MOZART: Don Giovanni, an opera in two acts
Don Giovanni................ Johannes Weisser
Leporello...................... Lorenzo Regazzo
Donna Elvira................. Alexandrina Pendatchanska
Donna Anna.................. Olga Pasichnyk
Don Ottavio.................. Kenneth Tarver
Zerlina........................... Sunhae Im
Masetto........................ Nikolay Borchev
Commendatore............. Alessandro Guerzoni
RIAS Chamber Chorus, Freiburg Baroque Orch
René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 1964)

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 14th of October 2007 at 3 pm
Royal Opera House Heritage Series
MOZART: Don Giovanni, an opera in two acts
Don Giovanni................ Cesare Siepi
Leporello...................... Geraint Evans
Donna Anna.................. Leyla Gencer
Donna Elvira................. Sena Jurinac
Zerlina........................... Mirella Freni
Don Ottavio.................. Richard Lewis
Commendatore............. David Ward
Masetto........................ Robert Savoie
Chorus & Orch of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Georg Solti
(recorded at the Royal Opera House, London, 19 February 1962)
(Royal Opera House ROHS 007)

The promotional material describes this production as 'heavy'; perhaps Georg Solti thought he was conducting Wagner's Ring. It certainly has a set of bombardon basses: Siepi, Evans, and Ward, but the sopranos are the beautiful Sena Jurinac, Mirella Freni, and Leyla Gencer (a Turkish soprano, born 1927, who did not feature in commercial recordings).
You want 'heavy'? In our local video opera group we had Cesare Siepi (again) with the two heavyweights Leontyne Price and Birgit Nilsson! However, the visual aspect was portrayed by little Salzburg marionettes. Nevertheless, you can have the movie of a Salzburg version, conducted by the magisterial maestro Wilhelm Furtwängler, starring Cesare Siepi (yet again) with Otto Edelmann as his sidekick (who does get a beating). And you can obtain an audio recording of Furtwängler's last Salzburg performance, not "weightily Germanic" but sparkling, though with romantic slowness, of course, and with Cesare Siepi (he must have had a patent on the part, but he looked good in tights, and was "a fine, incisive Don, dark in tone").

COMPOSER
BACKGROUND
CHARACTERS
SYNOPSIS
STORYLINE
UNDERGROUND
ANALYSIS