After a couple of weeks of seeing various, very worthy, but inevitably cramped, opera productions, with little money to spend on sets or costumes or concept, it was a bit of a relief and an excitement to experience a full scale all-stops-pulled major opera production, which Don Giovanni at Covent Graden definitely was. I think I last saw a production of Don Giovanni at ENO about 5 years ago, and around the same time I also saw a production in Vienna. This was a better performance than either of them.
Don Giovanni is a complex work, with, like the Marriage of Figaro, reflections on the nature of masters and servants which reminds you that the French Revolution was two years away when this was first performed in Prague in 1787, and also much to say what ‘liberty’ means and how ‘liberty’ related to living in community – an issue which is of course highly topical in the current Covid context. But this was more than ‘business as usual at Covent Garden’ for three reasons:
1. Some quite exceptional conducting by Constantin Trinks. As I have said in this blog many times, slower is usually better, and this was markedly less rushed than usual, with time for the music to breathe, and rhythms to be properly sprung and harmonies savoured, and the ROHCG orchestra responded with tight playing, offering delicacy and beauty (particularly in accompanying the big arias) when needed. The overture was a master class in how to conduct Mozart
2. A really interesting production by Kaspar Holten. The revolving tower/rooms set with video projections on them for the most part worked well in illuminating the characters and their movements, and there is something essentially seedy, furtive and enclosed about the way Don Giovanni behaves, an unwillingness to open up and embrace a wider world that seems to work very well with this approach to the set. The two times when I didn’t think this helped the meaning of the words and music were the party scene at the end of Act 1, which seemed incoherent and would be difficult for anyone who didn’t know the opera well to work out, because there was no space for the party-goers to gather in one place; also the point at which from a higher level the Commendatore extends his hand to Don Giovanni to invite him to dinner – because Don Giovanni was at a lower level than the Commendatore, the text was completely subverted. However I suppose that given that Holten’s view is that the Hell destined for Don Giovanni is one of isolation, of a perpetual lack of community and connection, maybe it makes sense. The end scene, with Don Giovanni pinned down by his own loneliness, and the impassive walls (almost like the Masons’ HQ in Covent Garden!) was very effective. The interactions between the characters seemed natural and well-done. I also liked the way Holten gave the female characters much more individuality than they sometimes have, much more ability to make their own choices – the women in this production know what they are getting into when they deal with Don Giovanni. I suppose the overall approach is a bit hyper-active, with all those white-veiled ladies drifting from room to room and the changing videos, but I liked it
Some much better than average singing and acting: Riccardo Fassi was an excellent Don Giovanni, with consistently beautiful tones and always acting well. The other stand-out star was Adele Zaharia as Donna Anna, whose big Act 2 aria was one of the best sung I have heard live – up there with Margaret Price, I thought. Frédéric Antoun’s Don Ottavio was also very fine – a particular highlight being ‘Il Mio Tresoro’, and indeed he convinced me that Don Ottavio is not a total bore whose arias hitherto I have rather switched off to in my live listening in the past. I was less convinced by Leporello (Paulo Bordogna) whose acting seemed understated, and Nicole Chevalie, whose Donna Elvira sounded a bit shrill at times. But no-one was less than adequate and the overall impression was of a high standard of performance
John's musical journey 