Martin Kušej: Don Giovanni

"Il dissoluto punito, ossia II Don Giovanni" is the full title of the opera that is widely held to be the most perfect work of its genre. Luckily, it is known today merely as "Don Giovanni," a title that far better evokes the hero in all of his seductive power, his disregard for the social order, his merry wantonness. It is this hero who fascinated Mozart, not the "dissoluto punito" - the "rake punished" - who harks back to the morals and conventions of the late 18th century.

The work, again on a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte (like "Figaro" and "Cosi"), was written for Prague after "Figaro" had enjoyed such an overwhelming success in the Bohemian capital. It was premiered there on 29 October 1787. The opera's perfect fusion of opera buffa and opera seria is suggested by its novel designation as a dramma giocoso, or merry drama. It is a moral tale of murder, sexual exploitation and betrayal that is lightened by comedic elements that infuse the whole with warmth and humanity.

As sung by baritone Thomas Hampson, who made his international break- through as Don Giovanni under Harnoncourt in 1987, the title hero superbly incarnates the aging rake and emotional anarchist who's seen and done everything. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo plays his servant without exaggeration, as an astute observer. While Melanie Diener dazzles as Donna Elvira, it is Christine Schäfer and Piotr Beczala who, with their powerful stage presence, give exceptionally unforgettable performances as Donna Anna and Don Ottavio.

Director Martin Kusej interprets "Don Giovanni" with compelling images that cast the rake as a child of today's consumer society, a man who acquires women, uses them and disposes of them after consumption. Happiness can be bought but the specter of retribution is never far away, as in the evocative "tableau vivant" of spent and broken high-society hedonists. Under the baton of young conductor Daniel Harding, the Vienna Philharmonic weave a fresh, transparent and jaunty musical fabric that underscores every nuance of passion and despair, as well as every shading of wit and humanity that make "Don Giovanni" a work of unequalled artistry.