The 2007 production from the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, conducted by Rene Jacobs and with Johannes Weisser as the Don, is a lightweight affair. Scenery is almost nonexistent and costumes token. Musically it’s notably authentic. Even so, with the competition so strong, this is a version that will not win many hearts.
The lack of visual support inevitably makes things harder for the soloists. They attempt to compensate by physical pranks — Giovanni sings Deh Vieni Alla Finestra lying on his back — but the final scene in particular loses in this cutback approach. There’s no onstage band, and Leporello’s closing the red stage curtain to represent the arrival of the fires of hell (reminiscent of Loge’s similar action at the end of the Patrice Chereau’s Rheingold) is at best a desperate measure.
The use of decoration in the arias (“improvisation” in modern terminology) in the 18th century manner will annoy some — it did me — but is competently handled. Weisser allows his youthful energy to stand in for true vocal power. Zerlina (Sunhae Im) is appropriately impressionable, while Alexandrina Pendatchanska as Elvira sings Mi Tradi as it was written, with the introduction taken very slowly in the 18th century tradition of nature weeping in sympathy with humanity’s woes.
Of these versions, then, the Terfel remains the one to beat if you want something more recent than Losey’s intelligent, complex and frequently resplendent movie.
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