AUSTRIA: VIENNA.

Mozart's Racine-based Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770) is surely his first opera to manifest characters with psychological complexity; nor does it doesn't really reappear until 1781 s Idomeneo, its only rival for presenting the most problematic father figure in the Mozart canon. The warrior King of Pontus struggles with his sons, Farnace and Sifare, for power and the love of Aspasia; Aspasia and the sons face possible exile or execution from him. The Roman commander, Marzio, Farnace's ally, seizes control, prompting Mitridate's suicide after joining Sifare to Aspasia and Farnace to his erstwhile fiancee, Ismene, a worthy, neglected princess.

The increasingly enterprising Theater an der Wien co-sponsored with Brussels' La Monnaie a remarkable if not wholly pleasing staging by Robert Carsen. The Canadian director's intense Personenregie made motivations largely comprehensible. (Mitridate's counsellor, Arbate, drily though capably voiced by Jeffrey Francis, remained oblique.) Dramatic pace was maintained despite yards of secco recitative. Yet the visual and plastic vocabulary Carsen and frequent collaborators Radu and Miruna Boruzescu (sets and costumes, respectively) employed has become somewhat predictable: bombed-out sets featuring exposed wires and crumbling masonry; enlarged portraits of one character (Mitridate) to whom arias arc sung (always ineffective); fetishistically brandished Uzis and handguns; the inevitable toilet and guzzled flasks; a bed on which both female characters were humiliated; masturbation; inadequate neon lighting; plus ominous business suits and military uniforms (men) and diva couture (women). Chairs were thrown, Aspasia was handcuffed, several arias were sung sprawled on the floor. Certain moments worked, but surely performers are as tired of this apporach as audiences and huffy critics.

Musically, things were very exciting. The edition conductor Harry Bicket utilized cut Ismene's first two arias and Arbate's only one. He obtained lively, rhythmically alert playing from the Vienna Philharmonic. Hector McDonald furnished an elegant horn obbligato to Sifare's "Lungi da te," movingly voiced by rising Greek soprano Myrto Papatanasiu, whose intensity and easy high attacks recalled Edda Moser; her (aptly) androgynous tone showed some resin. Patricia Petibon's camera-ready beauty and ease in coloratura balanced in some measure her brave, wildly applauded but tonally undergunned performance as Aspasia. Christiane Karg's lovely, rich lyric soprano and considered style aced Ismene's one big opportunity.

Veteran tenor Bruce Ford, announced as indisposed, visibly and audibly struggled with Mitridate's huge vocal leaps and high tessitura, yet this consummate artist managed some beautiful, affecting singing nonetheless and gave lessons in meaningful recit delivery. South African tenor Colin Lee sang Marzio's testing "Se di regnar" with astounding aplomb: surely a potential Mitridate here. The audience reserved its greatest cheers for Bejun Mehta's fascinating study in neurosis as Farnace. His timbre altered quality slightly at the top, but the technique and musicality remain wondrous, with dozens of the cast's only distinguished trills.

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