The opening
is entirely stunning: As the initial two chords of the ouverture
fill the auditorium, Peter Mattei runs up the middle aisle and onto the stage where he pulls town
the red velvety curtain to reveal a gigantic mirror, reflecting the entire
audience: We are (again I am tempted to say), spectators to our own lives.
Robert Carsen clearly loves this sort of theatre-within-theatre concept, which he has previously used in several productions such as Tosca, Contes d´Hoffmann and L´incoronazione di Poppea, just to mention a few. A concept often more exciting on paper than in reality, it does not seem too imposing here where the production, nevertheless, is very elegant, kept mostly in black, gold and dark velvety red colours.
Don
Giovanni is a free spirit. Neither malign nor cunning. Just a man, who lives every
moment to the fullest. Perhaps this is why he is the last one standing on
stage, while the others characters descend into hell in the end. Live life
to its fullest! This Don Giovanni certainly has Robert Carsen´s sympathy. And
ours as well, not least due to Peter Mattei, who is, in my opinion, quite
simply the best Don Giovanni on stage today, with his smooth, direct approach, his beautiful, beautiful voice as well as his lofty, charming and ultimately very captivating stage manners.
In general,
all the singers are from the A-list and probably the best Don Giovanni cast
name-per-name one could dream of assembling. Not all live up to
expectations, though. However, the two mail protagonists certainly do and Bryn Terfel equals Peter Mattei in what is in one of his best roles. Terfel has always been a much better Leporello than Don
Giovanni, Leporello being his own favourite as well. A rather rough,
clumsy character, never failing to catch the eye and his bass-barytone contrasts well with Peter Mattei´s barytone.
This time, the ungrateful part of Don Ottavio is left with Giuseppe Filianoti, who does well without exactly distinguishing himself, though Mozart did not help him much by giving him two entirely placid arias to sing as well as some uninteresting recitatives.
This time, the ungrateful part of Don Ottavio is left with Giuseppe Filianoti, who does well without exactly distinguishing himself, though Mozart did not help him much by giving him two entirely placid arias to sing as well as some uninteresting recitatives.
Donna Anna is one of the roles that launches the international career of Anna Netrebko. In this production, she clearly loves Don
Giovanni but feels obliged to hide her relation with him after the murder of
her father. However, she disappoints, mostly vocally, being frequently off tune
and sounding murky. I very much doubt we will see much more Mozart from here in
the future.
Barbara Frittoli, replacing Elina Garanca, was a
fluttery, nervous Donna Elvira and though she wasn´t exactly a weak link, and
definitely better than recently heard at the Metropolitan Opera, the role does not seem to lie
well for her.
Up-and-coming Anna Prohaska and Stefan Kocan were
sufficiently engaging as Zerlina/Masetto while I would have preferred a much
blacker sound for the Commendatore than what Kwangchoul Yun possesses.
Daniel
Barenboim´s relationship with Don Giovanni began in 1953 when he assisted the
cembalist in a run of Furtwängler-conducted performances. Thus it should comes as no surprise that Barenboim conducts in
the style of Furtwängler and Klemperer, lightyears from the period-specific
approaches some may prefer today. Not me, though. About 5 years ago in Berlin, Daniel Barenboim conducted the best Don Giovanni I have ever heard live and again here at La Scala his broad, slow tempi and his unfailing sense of the contrapunctual elements of the score was thrilling.
Final scene (beginning):
The bottom
line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Peter Mattei: 5
Bryn Terfel: 5
Anna
Netrebko: 3
Barbara
Frittoli: 4
Giuseppe
Filianoti: 4
Anna
Prohaska: 4
Stefan
Kocan: 4
Daniel
Barenboim: 5
Robert
Carsen´s production: 5
Overall impression: 4-5
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