Joan Castello | Valencia.- The production of the opera “Don Giovanni”, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered this Thursday at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, has had more highlights than shadows, with a balanced lyrical cast in which the performances of Davide Luciano, in the leading role, and Elsa Dreisigen the role of Donna Anna.
With the musical direction of Ricardo Minasi, very expressive with the baton and demonstrating that he is a great specialist in Mozartian works, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana complied with this demanding score, in which beautiful arias alternate and, above all, excellent scenes. concertantes (quartets, sextets and septets) in which the Salzburger genius left his mark.
In general terms, the representation went from less to more, with a first act in which music and voices sounded muffled, despite performing with liveliness and theatrical agility. In the second act the tables turned, and the voices sounded with more conviction and “soul”.
The Italian baritone Davide Luciano correctly embodied an unscrupulous conqueror Don Giovanni, who treats all the women he conquers in a vexatious way and who, from a 21st century perspective, would be a character repudiated and condemned with the law of only if it is. yes, as he is also in the play, when he dies a victim of his own perfidy. To highlight the scenic effect starring Don Giovanni who gets all the characters to finally succumb to his own death.
Also acceptable was the performance of the soprano from Zaragoza Ruth Iniesta as Donna Anna, the woman outraged by Don Juan, who did not finish moving the audience in the aria Or sai chi l’onore (from the first act), although she came back in the second part. .
SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE BY SOPRANO ELSA DREISIG
The Franco-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig was more successful as Donna Elvira, willing to unmask Don Giovanni’s libertine behavior, opening the eyes of the different victims of his amorous escapades, with a heartfelt interpretation of the aria Mi tradi quell’alma ingrata.
In the role of Leporello, the Italian bass Riccardo Fassi was a faithful squire who acted with ease, stoically enduring (and also for a little more money) the tricks of his master and, although he possibly lacked one more gram of comedy, He had some moments of glory, as in Don Giovanni’s tale of conquests.
Gianluca Buratto, in the brief role of Commander at the beginning and end of the work, recorded his good work as deep bass as Don Giovanni’s moral executor, after the latter, at the foot of his coffin, invited him to dinner his house.
Jacquely Stucker was also right as the mischievous peasant Zerlina, and Giovanni Sala (don Ottavio) and Adolfo Corrado (as Masetto) were correct.
SCENARIO BY PAOLO FANTIN
The set design for this production, designed by Paolo Fantin for the La Fenice theater in Venice, placed the action inside an 18th century palace, just as the script establishes, with a series of mobile panels that transformed with perfect synchronization into different rooms plagued with doors through which the protagonists entered and exited in their different skirmishes.
This scenic movement without a solution of continuity gave unity of action and agility to the development of the plot, but unconnected situations remained along the way, such as the death of the commander in bed, a lackluster scene of masks and forced hiding behind a plant.
The performance of Don Giovanni, a ‘giocoso drama’ with a libretto by Lorenzo da ponte and based on the play El burlador de Sevilla y invitado de Piedre de Tirso de Molina, achieved a full house in the main hall of the Palau de les Arts, as it had not been possible for some time.