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
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
