la scala: superb peter mattei, disappointing netrebko in elegant barenboim don giovanni

Don Giovanni, La Scala, December 2011. Production: Robert Carsen. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim. Cast: Peter Mattei (Don G), Bryn Terfel (Leporello), Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna), Barbara Frittoli (Donna Elvira), Kwangchoul Yun (Commendatore), Giuseppe Filianoti (Don Ottavio), Anna Prohaska (Zerlina), Stefan Kocan (Masetto).

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.

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

anna prohaska

ANNA PROHASKA

Nationality: Austrian.
Born: 1983, Neu Ulm. Germany.
Education and early career in brief: Hans Eisler Music Academy in Berlin. Company member at the Berlin State Opera from 2006.
Voice: Lyric soprano.
Main repertoire includes: Zerlina (Don G), Blondchen (Entführung), Despina (Cosi fan tutte). Sophie (Rosenkavalier), Anne Truelove (Rake´s Progress).
Main events until now: Despina (Cosi fan tutte, Salzburg 2011), Zerlina (Giovanni - La Scala 2011), Anne Truelove (Berlin 2010), Rosenkavalier (Sophie, Berlin 2012). Several concert performances with Abbado, Rattle, Boulez. Has signed exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophone - first CD "Sirene" released 2011.
Upcoming major events:

Future performances here. Biography here.


Commercial releases:
Sirene (2011) - first solo CD with Deutsche Grammophone

2011 opening concert of the Salzburg Festival (DVD)
Frohe Weihnachten - Christmas Songs on DG (2012)
Lulu-Suite with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonics (2012)
Enchanted Forest - second solo CD with Deutsche Grammophone (2013)

Selected links:

Review of Anna Prohaska´s first solo CD on Deutsche Grammophone
Reivew of Anna Prohaska´s Wigmore Hall debut 2012


In Don Giovanni, La Scala 2011:

Lulu Suite with Claudio Abbado, Lucerne 2010:

Anna Prohaska Sirene

Anna Prohaska: Siréne. CD. Deutsche Grammophon. 2011. With Erich Schneider (piano).

Anna Prohaska (born 1983) is hardly an insider-tip anymore, presenting her first solo CD for Deutsche Grammophon.

She studied at Hans Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and I remember when she graduated with maximum honours not more than a couple of years ago. Already as a student, she became a member of the Berlin Staatsoper, where I have heard her in various minor roles (such as the shepherd in Tannhäuser, a flower maiden in Parsifal) and in 2008 as a water nymph in Rusalka in Salzburg. Admittedly local Berliners gathered she was destined for stardom before I did, and only recently in Salzburg  did I hear her for the fist time in a leading role, as Despina in Cósí Fan Tutte.

And destined for stardom I am convinced that she is, perhaps more convinced than with any other soprano her age. Because not only does she have a beautiful voice - a very beautiful voice, with a wonderfully dark middle register and effortless top notes. But there is also something very technically solid about her singing, displaying a fabulous technique with completely even shifts between lower and upper register, and a style which at times is almost altmodisch resembling the style of Dorothea Röschmann.

The theme of this recital (hardly an enviable task having to come up with original themes for recitals) is Siréne, waternymph. Not that I´d immeditialy associate her voice with the fleeting spirits of a waternymph, but nevertheless she is outstanding in this program ranging from Purcell and Dowland over Schubert and Schumann to Szymanovski. Best perhaps in the classic german songs such as Schuberts Des Fischers Liebesglück.

I remember once reading an interview with Daniel Barenboim, a frequent collaborator of Anna Prohaska´s, stating that after 30 minutes of singing he would know if a young soprano was eventually destined for Wagner or Mozart. In the case of Anna Prohaska, I´d be curious to hear his opinion.

Not to be missed.

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average): 5

Salzburg 2011 - Claus Guth Cosi Fan Tutte in a major revision

@ MonikaRittershaus for Salzburger Festspiele

Cosí fan tutte. August 16th, Haus für Mozart, Salzburg Festival. Prod: Claus Guth. Cond: Marc Minkowski with Musiciens du Louvre. Cast: Maria Bengtsson (Fiordiligi), Michele Losier (Dorabella), Anna Prohaska (Despina), Alek Shrader (Ferrando), Christopher Maltman (Guglielmo), Bo Skovhus (Alfonso).

It is a major revision of his 2009 staging of Cosi Fan Tutte presented by Claus Guth at this years
Salzburg Festival. A pity really, that the 2009 version is already preserved on DVD, as this "new" version is more closely related to the rest of Guth´s Da Ponte trilogy (Nozze di Figaro, 2006 on DVD and Don Giovanni from 2008).
In 2011 we see the plain interior of a white house, complete with the staircase from Nozze di Figaro. The party from 2009 is over and now all excesses have been dispersed with leaving a pure psychoanalytical room, the looming pine forest (also seen in Don Giovanni) gradually dominating the house, while the two girls are increasingly covered in  (symbolical) dirt, as the two black-clad angels of Alfonso and Despina lurk around and occasionally freezes the action. Those familiar with his Nozze di Figaro will immediately nod in recognition. However, really touching, it is never. And though the theatrical assemblances to both Nozze and Don G are obvious, it is not so obvious exactly what to make of them.
But a major revision it certainly is - I don´t remember having seen such fundamental changes in the conception and execution of a work between seasons before, compared to what is on the DVD this is a substantially different production.

As always with Guth, those prefering a bubbly comedy should look elsewhere, but judging from the big applause (as opposed to the booing when this production opened in 2009), the Salzburger audience seems to have learned  this lesson - after all Claus Guth initiated his Da Ponte cycle in 2006, which is now completed and all three Da Ponte operas may be seen at this years festival.
Curiously, a Japanese tourist continued to take photographs using his flash during the performance, which was quite annoying - I could see exactly who it was, and where he was seated (on the balcony, while I was on the parterre). Why someone didn´t stop this, I simply fail to understand. Germans/Austrians are not exactly known to restrain themselves when it comes to operatic etiquette. But perhaps too many tourists were present..

This time, it was not the Vienna Philharmonics playing, instead Marc Minkowski brought his Musiciens du Louvre in a fresh take on the score.

Vocally, Maria Bengtsson was disappointing - a slim voice with a nasal sound, shaky coloratura, strange shifts in tempo and seeming to hold somewhat back. Michele Losier, who will perform in Faust later this year in both London and New York, was a fine Dorabella, however the standout of the female cast was clearly Anna Prohaska, with superb Mozartean style and sense of characterization and crystal-clear singing. My guess: In five years she will be singing the Mozartean repertoire everywhere.

Among the males, both Bo Skovhus and Christopher Maltman brings weighty stage presence, though Maltman occasionally acts more than he sings. Also Alek Shrader seems on his way to more major assignments with convincing acting and unstrained vocalism.

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Christopher Maltman: 4
Bo Skovhus: 4
Alek Shrader: 4
Maria Bengtsson: 3
Michele Losier: 4
Anna Prohaska: 5

Marc Minkowski: 4

Claus Guth: 3-4

Overall impression: 4