Don and on.

I've been building my DVD collection and adding visual software to my modest collection. I've periodically weeded out my recordings because of reduced space or especially predatory beasts. When I cast my mind back over my various collections of recorded music and speech, I am conflicted with joy and sorrow over treasures lost and recalled to mind.

Forty-some years ago, I picked up a wonderful recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni on London vinyl. It was conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler and had Cesare Siepi singing the title role. I quickly came to love it. Using a variety of turntables and styli, I had listened to it from coast to coast. I found myself acquiring more copies of the Don. Eventually, as I planned to move from the Pacific shores to the heartland, I decided to cull my collection of discs and full of I decided to bestow my original copy of the Don to a community of nuns called the Daughters of Jesus. I might have been thinking of a tax deduction and they seemed likely to enjoy the recoding.

I'd mentioned to my wife that I was planning to reduce my collection of discs. Since I had at least two recordings of this Mozart opera, reducing that to one was sensible.

Having been married for a relatively brief period of time, I assumed that my bride would tell me if she had a problem with my action. One learns about such matters eventually. There were periodic references to Siepi as a superb Don but I did not take these as terribly serious. When I finally got the message, it was too late and the recording was out of the catalog. I was careful not to give any other recordings away and I tried harder to understand my wife and her tastes in opera. (Italians are born with the genes of musical critics.)

I tried hard never to reference the absence of that recording from our goods and chattel. Recently while browsing in our local Barnes and Noble, I saw a DVD of Don Giovanni in two acts with Siepi and most of the original cast along with Furtwangler conducting. I realized that I could make points with my bride of some 40+ years so I purchased it.

I don't know why I was surprised to find that the disc included a visual performance along with the music as in 1955 such things were rare. I realized almost immediately that the music had a precision and shape that was typical of Furtwangler's conducting. In effect, it sang before the singers were involved. The visuals were sedate and generally in pastels. One didn't need any flash given the tone of the piece.

The sets were part of the cliff face in the Salzburg venue and made for a flowing production which is easy to follow. The action on the stage was classic in its restraint. The singers were not asked to strain their bodies or their voices. It was a model of classical presentation. Everything was given its due. The ensemble singing was truly illuminating with each voice clearly articulated and balanced with the ensemble.

The staging was minimal but quite effective because the emotion and the action supported each other. I will concede that my wife and my age may have influenced my judgment to some extent, but I am convinced that the performances support my belated accolades. I am not ashamed to admit that my critical faculties have become refined over the past 40 years. I may not hear quite as well, but I listen more closely and my life experiences enrich my appreciation.

I make no claims for my musical judgments as either refined or enlightened but I submit that half a century of studying and participating in theater has given me some perspective on opera as musical theater, not to reference two-score years living with an Italian wife.

The DVD is Deutsche Grammophon DVD 073 019-0 Mozart Don Giovanni Furtwangler. It has a treasured place in my collection even as I fear it will not age as quickly as I will.

My current sonic and video system is at the mercy of an English Springer Spaniel who is long on teeth and short of aesthetic sensibilities. Things have improved since he bit through a power cord but I find I must check all the speaker cords regularly or find myself listening to strange speaker configurations. I keep telling myself that checking my speaker connections is good practice. I remember the dreadful sounds that used to come out when our teenagers had been listening to their favorite music.

My current system consist of an Onkyo TX600 receiver, a 27-inch Proton Monitor, a B&W center speaker, two Ohm 3X0 speakers used as rear speakers, two M&K subwoofers, and a pair of M. B. Quart tower speakers placed on the subwoofers (if they start to walk, I must curb my enthusiasm for bass). Periodically, the speakers change, but overall this combination seems quite satisfying. Occasionally, I use 8 or 10 Bose cubes or additional B&W speakers as the spirit moves me. There are two DVD players in the system together with a Macintosh Laserdisc player and an AR turntable.

I still hope to get a chance to review HDTV before my eyes are hopelessly analog. With three cats in the house I resist the impulse to review exotic speakers. My wife refuses to let me review any system that costs more than the assessed value of the house.

Should I consider donating enough blood to finance a plasma screen?