'Don Giovanni' is not just one of Mozart's best but also one of my favourite operas of all time. Its story is dark, complex, suspenseful with a nice humorous touch at times, the characters are interesting (especially the titular character) and the music is wonderful, a case of not a bad aria, ensemble or note in the entire score.
Have definitely seen worse productions around, the 2002 Liceu one is especially wretched. However, there are also far better ones, it doesn't get much better than the 1979 Joseph Losey film that had a dream cast if there ever was one. This 'Don Giovanni' is not bad and is an improvement over the musically marvellous but visually near-disastrous 'Tristan and Isolde' that started the 11th season of the interesting 'Metropolitan Opera HD Live' series. At the same time it could have been much better.
While it is not entirely smooth-sailing musically, there is still a good deal to like. The orchestral playing is lively and sensitive, while also with a depth that suited the darker parts of the score (especially the climactic Commendatore scene) very well. Fabio Luisi gives a suitably swift account and gives the music complexity, wit and nuance (the opening chords do provide chills too), though there was a tendency to rush in faster sections and the Act 1 finale which clearly took the cast by surprise.
Simon Keenlyside makes a welcome return to the house. The voice has lost some warmth, due to a well-documented illness and perhaps age, and his voice sounds a little small in the house meaning some of the lower register sounding under-powered. However, he still sounds very good and sings with great musicianship and striking vocal expression, and his acting is very physical and energetic but here he portrays the Don as a charming seducer and a suave and clever manipulator. Adam Plachetka is a lovable and funny Leporello and has the right amount of gravel and richness, positively relishing the "Catalogue" aria, if less successful in the lower register in the climactic Commendatore scene where he is not particularly audible.
Paul Appleby provides some of the production's most beautiful singing in the rather thankless role of Ottavio, his two big arias musically and expressively sung and with no hints of strain and labour. Kwangchul Youn is a rich-voiced and admirably intimidating Commendatore, though he could have been more spooky when he appears in the climax. Matthew Rose is a suitably indignant Massetto.
Of the women, faring best is the firm and noble Elvira of Malin Byström, who for me also gave the best performance of the production. Serena Malfi's Zerlina is colourful and charming, her comic timing also registering well. Less successful is Hibla Gerzmava's dramatically stolid and vocally uneven (beautiful, dark middle register, wiry and unsteady top with laboured agility in places) Donna Anna, the character's grief and thirst for vengeance has been far more convincing elsewhere.
However, the production values are too drab and the stage minimalist and sparsely populated, coming from somebody who much prefers a more sumptuous approach.
There is nothing offensive, gratuitous or egregious about the staging, it just feels unimaginative and bland. 'Don Giovanni' is a complex opera dramatically, one doesn't get a sense of that in stage direction that lacked imagination and needed much more darkness and, despite evident comic chops from Malfi and Plachetka, also much more joy and fun. Everything just felt too polite and like it was being careful not to offend when it definitely could have taken more risks. A big problem was how it strained credibility big time with Don Giovanni and Leporello disguised as each other, with Plachetka being significantly taller than Keenlyside and with a physique that couldn't be more different.
On the whole, a lot to like musically and nothing to be offended by but rather drab and bland with a lack of imagination and atmosphere. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Have definitely seen worse productions around, the 2002 Liceu one is especially wretched. However, there are also far better ones, it doesn't get much better than the 1979 Joseph Losey film that had a dream cast if there ever was one. This 'Don Giovanni' is not bad and is an improvement over the musically marvellous but visually near-disastrous 'Tristan and Isolde' that started the 11th season of the interesting 'Metropolitan Opera HD Live' series. At the same time it could have been much better.
While it is not entirely smooth-sailing musically, there is still a good deal to like. The orchestral playing is lively and sensitive, while also with a depth that suited the darker parts of the score (especially the climactic Commendatore scene) very well. Fabio Luisi gives a suitably swift account and gives the music complexity, wit and nuance (the opening chords do provide chills too), though there was a tendency to rush in faster sections and the Act 1 finale which clearly took the cast by surprise.
Simon Keenlyside makes a welcome return to the house. The voice has lost some warmth, due to a well-documented illness and perhaps age, and his voice sounds a little small in the house meaning some of the lower register sounding under-powered. However, he still sounds very good and sings with great musicianship and striking vocal expression, and his acting is very physical and energetic but here he portrays the Don as a charming seducer and a suave and clever manipulator. Adam Plachetka is a lovable and funny Leporello and has the right amount of gravel and richness, positively relishing the "Catalogue" aria, if less successful in the lower register in the climactic Commendatore scene where he is not particularly audible.
Paul Appleby provides some of the production's most beautiful singing in the rather thankless role of Ottavio, his two big arias musically and expressively sung and with no hints of strain and labour. Kwangchul Youn is a rich-voiced and admirably intimidating Commendatore, though he could have been more spooky when he appears in the climax. Matthew Rose is a suitably indignant Massetto.
Of the women, faring best is the firm and noble Elvira of Malin Byström, who for me also gave the best performance of the production. Serena Malfi's Zerlina is colourful and charming, her comic timing also registering well. Less successful is Hibla Gerzmava's dramatically stolid and vocally uneven (beautiful, dark middle register, wiry and unsteady top with laboured agility in places) Donna Anna, the character's grief and thirst for vengeance has been far more convincing elsewhere.
However, the production values are too drab and the stage minimalist and sparsely populated, coming from somebody who much prefers a more sumptuous approach.
There is nothing offensive, gratuitous or egregious about the staging, it just feels unimaginative and bland. 'Don Giovanni' is a complex opera dramatically, one doesn't get a sense of that in stage direction that lacked imagination and needed much more darkness and, despite evident comic chops from Malfi and Plachetka, also much more joy and fun. Everything just felt too polite and like it was being careful not to offend when it definitely could have taken more risks. A big problem was how it strained credibility big time with Don Giovanni and Leporello disguised as each other, with Plachetka being significantly taller than Keenlyside and with a physique that couldn't be more different.
On the whole, a lot to like musically and nothing to be offended by but rather drab and bland with a lack of imagination and atmosphere. 6/10 Bethany Cox
