From start to finish, Mozart’s Don Giovanni is always a treat with the composer displaying perfect versatility in his ability to convey widely varying emotions through his music. Whether we are listening to a seductive routine by the title character, or a loving duet as yet another woman falls for his charm, or the annoyance of betrayal or the anger of retribution, the music perfectly captures the mood while also bearing in mind that the opera is basically a comedy.
The opening scene quickly sets the plot: Don Giovanni has seduced Donna Anna and is making his escape when her father, the Commendatore, challenges him. In the ensuing fight, the old man is killed and Don Giovanni continues his womanising ways until he is unrepentantly dragged to hell at the end by the ghoul of the late Commendatore. While all this is going on, the comedy is provided mainly by the relationship between Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello who is constantly trying to get his master to change his wicked ways. My favourite line come when Leporello tells Giovanni that hem ought to be faithful to just one woman. “One?” replies the great seducer. “But that would be unfair to all the others,” which tells us all we need to know.
Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner sings the title role in a powerful voice that is perfectly suited to Don Giovanni’s bullying nature while Italian bass Roberto Tagliavini is equally impressive as his sidekick Leporello. He was at his best delivering the glorious ‘Catalogue’ aria in which he lists the victims of his master’s conquests by country, culminating in the 1,003 successful seductions in Spain alone. While both Bintner and Tagliavini displayed great voices, however, both lacked the comic acting skills needed to bring out the best in their relationship. This is potentially a fine comedy double act, but neither had the full repertoire of timing and gestures needed to make the most of it.
The three main female roles were all superbly handled. American soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen gave an excellent account of both the passionateness and grief of Donna Anna, while Italian soprano Giulia Semenzato played the part of the peasant bride Zerlina, combining a lovely voice with great acting skills. By a very short head, however, the best was Aigul Akhmetshina as Donna Elvira, whose mixture of the desire for revenge on Don Giovanni for abandoning her and her continuing passion for him places great demands which the British-Russian mezzo-soprano handled with impressive singing and acting skills, which also showed excellent humour throughout.
Perhaps the finest singing, however, came from Ukrainian tenor Bogdan Volkov in the smaller role of Don Ottavio. His two arias, in which he sings of his passion and emotional commitment to his fiancée Donna Anna, were both delivered in beautiful style clearly appreciated by the audience.
The Italian conductor Stefano Montanari adopted a brisk tempo throughout,which perhaps contributed to occasional lack of total control over the singers and orchestra. That suggests a lack of rehearsal time, but will no doubt improve as the run continues.
My more serious reservations are with Kasper Holten’s production which includes distracting projections of the names of all the Don’s conquests among its sometimes startling lighting effects, and more seriously seems to be trying to pass some of the blame for the hero’s behaviour on the women themselves. Having Donna Anna sneak off into a bedroom
with Don Giovanni while her fiancé is singing of his love would surely have shocked Mozart and his librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. Revivals director Greg Eldridge has done a good job lessening some of Holten’s extravagant ideas, but many still remain, including a reluctance to drag Giovanni off to hell at the end. On the whole, I think this is a four-star performance of a three-star production of a five star opera. Which still adds up to a great evening.
Don Giovanni continues at the Royal Opera House until October 15. For details and tickets, see rbo.org.uk or phone 020 7304 4000
