WA Mozart: Don Giovanni, Met Encore in HD, Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford, 25 October 2016.
The New York Metropolitan’s current production of Don Giovanni was seen in HD Encore in the comfort of the Phoenix Picturehouse in Oxford. Directed by Michael Grandage, dating from 2011,.it was one of the best productions of the opera I have seen. The title role was taken by Simon Keenlyside. Previously Keenlyside had been seen in the Don in a transmission from the opening of the Royal Opera House season in 2008 in a very energetic athletic performance. That production was notable for the definitive performance as Donna Elvira by Joyce DiDonato, just beginning to make her mark as an international star. On the present occasion, she acted as Live in HD Host.
This was an uncomplicated staging of the opera with no frills, revealing the full genius of Mozart and Da Ponte. The basic set consisted of a background of three rows of cubicles, sometimes occupied by ladies representing Don Giovanni’s conquests, in front of which the scenes changed, according to the requirements of the plot.
The remarkable feature of this production was that the characters were all recognisable twenty-first century types. Keenlyside’s Don, eight years older than in the ROH production, less athletic with approaching middle age insecurity, having continually to prove himself and going to his death when he realised the game was up. The three ladies were all strong independent women, were it not for the cracks in their armour exposed by their contact with Don Giovanni. Donna Anna, played by Hibla Gerzmava, an Abkhazian-Russian operatic soprano who currently resides in Moscow and deserves to be better known in the West, gives a magnificent interpretation. She displays indignation at her near violation by an intruder in her bedroom, distress at her father’s murder and determination in her desire for revenge. Elvira is played by Swedish soprano Malin Byström. Her head tells her that Giovanni is a waste of time but whose heart will not let him go. Zerlina, a self-willed country girl, sees no harm with flirting with an older man on her wedding day, is played by young Italian mezzo Serena Malfi. The three women’s voices dominated proceedings but there were finely charcterised performances from the men too: Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Paul Appleby as an exceptionally forceful Don Ottavio, Matthew Rose as Masetto. The imposing presence and bass voice of Korean Kwangchul Youn struck fear in our hearts as the live statue of the Commendatore.
The opera was conducted in period style by Fabio Luisi, though with the full Met orchestra. The direction Live in HD was Matthew Diamond (new to us) was a straightforward filming of the stage action
This was an uncomplicated staging of the opera with no frills, revealing the full genius of Mozart and Da Ponte. The basic set consisted of a background of three rows of cubicles, sometimes occupied by ladies representing Don Giovanni’s conquests, in front of which the scenes changed, according to the requirements of the plot.
The remarkable feature of this production was that the characters were all recognisable twenty-first century types. Keenlyside’s Don, eight years older than in the ROH production, less athletic with approaching middle age insecurity, having continually to prove himself and going to his death when he realised the game was up. The three ladies were all strong independent women, were it not for the cracks in their armour exposed by their contact with Don Giovanni. Donna Anna, played by Hibla Gerzmava, an Abkhazian-Russian operatic soprano who currently resides in Moscow and deserves to be better known in the West, gives a magnificent interpretation. She displays indignation at her near violation by an intruder in her bedroom, distress at her father’s murder and determination in her desire for revenge. Elvira is played by Swedish soprano Malin Byström. Her head tells her that Giovanni is a waste of time but whose heart will not let him go. Zerlina, a self-willed country girl, sees no harm with flirting with an older man on her wedding day, is played by young Italian mezzo Serena Malfi. The three women’s voices dominated proceedings but there were finely charcterised performances from the men too: Adam Plachetka as Leporello, Paul Appleby as an exceptionally forceful Don Ottavio, Matthew Rose as Masetto. The imposing presence and bass voice of Korean Kwangchul Youn struck fear in our hearts as the live statue of the Commendatore.
The opera was conducted in period style by Fabio Luisi, though with the full Met orchestra. The direction Live in HD was Matthew Diamond (new to us) was a straightforward filming of the stage action
Don Giovanni:six entries - please scroll down
Glyndebourne, 4 July 2010
Drottningholms Slottsteater, Sweden, 28 August 2010.
Offender’s Register
WA Mozart: Don Giovanni, Welsh National Opera, New Theatre, Oxford, 22 November, 2011.
The week before the annual visit of Welsh National Opera to Oxford, bringing their new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by John Caird, The Times newspaper devoted a whole page to a case study of a man suffering from sex addiction. This provokes the thought that in this day and age of prurience (and absence of death penalty) the Don would be more likely to end up on the sex offenders’ register rather than in hell, (given the punch-line: ‘but his favourite form of sinning is with one who’s just beginning’ as the Catalogue Aria has it in Edward Dent’s admirable translation). No doubt too that Donna Anna and Donna Elvira and the rest would be the victims of phone hacking.
The story is concerned with Don Giovanni’s final three escapades and his ultimate fate, aided and abetted, often reluctantly, by his servant Leporello. In a duel, Giovanni kills the Commendatore, Donna Anna’s father, after she cries for help after escaping Giovanni’s embrace having admitted him to her bedroom under the impression that he is her wimpish boy-friend Don Ottavio; Donna Elvira is a previous mistress/spouse, who has sought out Giovanni, torn between seeking vengeance and resuming their relationship and Zerlina is the peasant girl who is out of her depth in thinking she can flirt with the Don on her wedding day without arousing the jealousy of her husband Masetto. Eventually Giovanni is called to account by a speaking statue of the Commendatore and, unrepentant, is dragged down to Hell. The opera ends with a sextet in which each remaining character summarises their reaction to events and their plans for the future. (It is difficult now to believe that some sixty years ago it was a debating point whether or not this scene should be omitted!)
There are two types of production of Don Giovanni. Either, directors interpret it as conceived by Mozart and da Ponte as a dramma giocoso or they tie themselves in the most awful knots trying to add, for a modern audience, psychological or sociological significance, often with their own personal agenda. The dark side is implicit in the score and the libretto – to make it explicit is to miss the point of the opera. The worst example was Graham Vick’s inexcusably outrageous production for Glyndebourne in 2000 featuring a disembowelled horse on a dung-heap. Less extreme was the 2010 brutish verismo Glyndebourne version directed by Jonathan Kent. Fortunately, neither of these effaces the memories of Glyndebourne in Peter Hall’s production of 1977 (complete with umbrellas raised in a stage storm, which coincided with an almighty thunderstorm outside the theatre the night we saw it) nor the Chelsea Opera Group’s inaugural concert performance seen in Cambridge in 1959. Both of these fall into the first category, of dramma giocoso, as does also the version brilliantly adapted and directed by Anna Pelly for the local Sunningwell-based Opera Anywhere in 2007, set in the world of international corporate finance.
The good news is that Welsh National Opera’s new production, seen at the New Theatre on 22 November, is with the exception of a few rather silly and pointless embellishments, totally true to the original concept. Thus it has a refreshingly old- fashioned air to it. But, and this is a major fault, this air is compounded by the orchestral sound for which WNO deserves a rap on the knuckles. It was apparent from the first notes of the overture that there were far too many strings for the delicate balance between wind and strings to which we are now accustomed in Mozart’s music. The resulting lack of precision, giving a lack-lustre impression from the orchestral sound pervaded the whole evening – a rare lapse from the WNO orchestra’s usual superb standard; it sounded like just any other opera orchestra! The other bad news is the set – heavy unilluminated carved panels which moved around while singing continued - in front of which hovered silent hooded figures to no particular purpose. Other pointless embellishments were the presence already of the statue at the Commendatore’s assassination, the appearance of Don Giovanni in the final coda (not an original piece of silliness) and a bespectacled Don Ottavio.
In spite of these irritations, the evening was very enjoyable and did not deserve the critical panning it received in some quarters. The stage management was good, though, in the party scene, Zerlina’s separation and Giovanni’s escape at the end of Act I were symbolic rather than convincing. The spot-lighting of the singers was particularly effective. The singing, too, was good but not outstanding. Most effective were two late substitutes: Samantha Hay as a flighty Zerlina and Duncan Rock as the Don, with just the right mixture of charm and menace. Donna Anna was convincingly played by Camilla Roberts as the distraught and vengeful heroine. Nuccia Focile struggled with the role of Elvira, having neither the power nor the dramatic range required for this most complex character. (I may be being unfair but I cannot dismiss from my mind Joyce diDonato’s outstanding Elvira in Covent Garden’s 2008 production.) Gary Griffiths (who sang Winterreise at the recent Lieder Festival) made a likable bumpkin of Masetto. Robin Trischler, handicapped by the spectacles, made it more than usually implausible that Ottavio and Anna had a future together. Leporello was adequately played by David Soar but left little lasting impression. Carlo Malinverno’s Commendatore lacked sepulchral sonority. However, the credits far outweigh these reservations. This was a delightful ensemble production, leaving an enduring impression of the humanity of the characters. We felt we knew these people.
WA Mozart, Don Giovanni, Phoenix Picturehouse, live from the Royal Opera House, 8 September 2008
The opening night of the ROH 2008/9 season was marked by two innovations both to be welcomed as ‘reaching out’ without ‘dumbing down’. Billed as ‘Paul Hamlyn First Night supported by The Helen Hamlyn Trust in association with The Sun’. The audience had been selected by ballot from readers of The Sun newspaper at heavily subsidised prices with the aim of giving a taste of opera to those who would not normally attend. At the same time it was the first occasion on which, following the example of the NY Metropolitan, the performance was transmitted live to cinema audiences around the country. This was a fantastic experience even viewed from the third row of the Phoenix. As at the Met one is drawn into the House, following the arrival of audience and musicians, the on-stage bustle and interviews with those involved in the production, including the conductor Charles Mackerras and the director of this revival of her 2002 production of Don Giovanni, Francesca Zambello. The latter summarised in three sentences the importance of the director discussing details of the performance with the conductor and the singers, often all too apparently absent from many of today’s productions. The audience was only marginally more scruffy than the usual Covent Garden audience these days but was characterised by its enthusiastic demonstrations of appreciation, more spontaneous than the usual polite applause – a welcome change.
Musically this performance was superb, with fidelity to the content of the score rather than to the period of its composition. All three ladies gave sublime performances but only DiDonato as Elvira had that bit extra to qualify for diva status for her singing and her representation of the subtleties of the mood swings of her fascinating character. The beautiful Poplavskaya (although claiming indisposition) gave a fine characterisation of the violated and vengeful Donna Anna. Persson as Zerlina was not as much at home in this third of her Da Ponte roles following a charmful Susanna at Covent Garden and a scintillating Fiordiligi at Glyndebourne in 2006. Like Susanna, Zerlina is a self-willed young woman; unlike Susanna, she is not completely in control of her situation. The second sensation was the Ottavio of Ramón Vargas portrayed not as the ineffectual wimp he usually appears; rarely can one believe, as on this occasion, that he and Anna might get together again after the year has elapsed. The Commendatore of Eric Halfvarson was terrifyingly impressive both in voice and presence.
The principal men, played by Simon Keenlyside and Kyle Ketelsen, had to stand comparison with previously experiences of great interpreters of the roles. Keenlyside played the Don with his trademark athleticism but this did not generate sufficient sex-appeal to make credible the ‘catalogue’ of his conquests. Ketelsen failed to establish a consistent persona for Leporello.
In the cinema the subtitles play a stronger role than the surtitles in the opera house being easier to view (or more obtrusive – according to the point of view). On this occasion, Kenneth Chalmers (not credited in the cinema programme and only in very small print as a ‘production credit’ in the insert in the ROH programme) produced a modern colloquial English version, largely accurate if anachronistic.One missed some felicities from earlier translations such as ‘but his favourite form of sinning is with one who’s just beginning’.
We left the Phoenix totally satisfied with the experience. From the Opera House one misses the projection of the singers’ voices, the ambience of the auditorium and the sense of occasion. Within these limitations, in the cinema the sound and vision were well-nigh perfect. We were drawn into the action whether joining the throng of Zerlina’s companions or sensing the chill of the Commedatore’s presence. As value for money it is incomparable. And it is only ten minutes from home
Musically this performance was superb, with fidelity to the content of the score rather than to the period of its composition. All three ladies gave sublime performances but only DiDonato as Elvira had that bit extra to qualify for diva status for her singing and her representation of the subtleties of the mood swings of her fascinating character. The beautiful Poplavskaya (although claiming indisposition) gave a fine characterisation of the violated and vengeful Donna Anna. Persson as Zerlina was not as much at home in this third of her Da Ponte roles following a charmful Susanna at Covent Garden and a scintillating Fiordiligi at Glyndebourne in 2006. Like Susanna, Zerlina is a self-willed young woman; unlike Susanna, she is not completely in control of her situation. The second sensation was the Ottavio of Ramón Vargas portrayed not as the ineffectual wimp he usually appears; rarely can one believe, as on this occasion, that he and Anna might get together again after the year has elapsed. The Commendatore of Eric Halfvarson was terrifyingly impressive both in voice and presence.
The principal men, played by Simon Keenlyside and Kyle Ketelsen, had to stand comparison with previously experiences of great interpreters of the roles. Keenlyside played the Don with his trademark athleticism but this did not generate sufficient sex-appeal to make credible the ‘catalogue’ of his conquests. Ketelsen failed to establish a consistent persona for Leporello.
In the cinema the subtitles play a stronger role than the surtitles in the opera house being easier to view (or more obtrusive – according to the point of view). On this occasion, Kenneth Chalmers (not credited in the cinema programme and only in very small print as a ‘production credit’ in the insert in the ROH programme) produced a modern colloquial English version, largely accurate if anachronistic.One missed some felicities from earlier translations such as ‘but his favourite form of sinning is with one who’s just beginning’.
We left the Phoenix totally satisfied with the experience. From the Opera House one misses the projection of the singers’ voices, the ambience of the auditorium and the sense of occasion. Within these limitations, in the cinema the sound and vision were well-nigh perfect. We were drawn into the action whether joining the throng of Zerlina’s companions or sensing the chill of the Commedatore’s presence. As value for money it is incomparable. And it is only ten minutes from home