![]() ![]() ![]() I’ve seen Michael Haneke’s in Paris, and that was modern, with Don Giovanni as the C.E.O. There was Peter Brook’s, with Peter Mattei it was a minimalist staging but very powerful. When all the pieces fall into place, “Don Giovanni” unfurls with a sublime, graceful beauty that a casual listener might find straightforward, even light. And, in true operatic fashion, its telling is equally dependent on a conductor’s momentum, and actorly, complex expression from the singers. Without the hand of a confident director, the story rapidly sags. Its score runs nearly three hours with major events at the beginning and end - Giovanni murders the father of a woman he nearly rapes, then later is dragged to hell - but little in between other than characters repeating mistakes, as if in loops of unhealthy habits. Particularly tough to stage is “Don Giovanni,” which returns to the Metropolitan Opera in a new production on May 5, with Peter Mattei in the title role. In that second category fall Mozart’s three collaborations with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte - “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and “Così Fan Tutte” - works of slippery psychology, frank humanity and, crucially, crystalline construction that punishes any mistake onstage or in the orchestra pit. ![]() ![]() And then there are those that seem simple but are actually some of the most difficult. There are operas that are challenging for their sheer technical demands - the density of Berg’s “Lulu” or the heroic immensity of Wagner epics. ![]()
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