After Kosky's Siegfried - Kosky's Don Giovanni from Vienna
After Kosky's Siegfried at Covent Garden last week (you can read my review here), I thought it a good idea to have a look at his Don Giovanni from Vienna. Here's the promo reel:
As you can see, there is a real dystopian element: instead of a burnt out World Ash Tree, here is a bleak, barren, gray background, designed by Katrin Lea Tag. It dominates the opera. The black curtain rises in the later stages of the Overure (brilliantly directed by a batonless Philippe Jordan, the Vienna State Opera orchestra on terrific form) to a scene that is maximally bare; as in Kosky's Carmen (review), less is more. As light allows us to see the characters, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller's Donna Anna asserts itself, driven by her hate: a colourful dress (Lea Tag also in charge of costume) against the corporate garb of the men. She is a force of nature later in act 1's “Or sai che l'onore". There is foliage later in act 1, but it seems again out of place, a false tree against the gray. How it neutralises the fizz of the Don's (superbly sung) Champagne aria.; the use of foliage as masks in the act 1 finale is a nice idea.
The opening of the second act returns us to a base state: nothing has changed except now the stage is dominated by a towering, jagged stone edifice (that is to hold Donna Elvira). No window for the Don's serenade therefore, just a shadowy, spooky stone "tree" (maybe this is the Wold Ash Tree ?). The light is somehow sickly.
Kate Lindsey continues the trend in a dress bedecked with flames (reflected in her feistily throwing herself at the Don). Lindsey is in fine voice,. The ladies vests getlemen choral exchang's later in act 1 are reflected in the colour: although men are now more colourful, clad in pastels, it is the girls who actually exude life. The Don's flowery blue suit feels out of place, it mirrors his chameleon ability to be what is necessary to get what he wants: Kyle Ketelsen is vocally superb throughout, and dramatically convincing.
If the Don is another suit, the “hoodie” Leporello of Philippe Sly is the outsider, a commentator as well as alter ego, clearly disturbed in his gestures during the Catalogue Aria, his phrases as jerky as his movements until "ma in España," where lyricism temporarily intervenes. It is a sad portrayal, and time and time again, we see evidence in his gestures of the scars of Leporello's previous hurt. No surprise, then, hat the two voices are so similar (this Leporello is a bass-bartone); Leporello is an externalisation of parts of the Don. And the hoodie provides a convenient way for the disguise later in the opera.
Patricia Nolc is the perfect Zerlina. She is new to me; she exudes the innocence of her character, but the voice is just a touch too heavy and vibratoed, although with the Don in their famous duet, thr voices work well together. She is best the scenes with Paer Keller's fine Masetto, her "Batti, batti" far from simply placatory, instead coloured by frustration.
The death of the besuited Commendatore is seen as the killing of the established order by the rebel Don Giovanni. Productions that reveal the jet black core of Mozart's bleakest opera ted to pack a much: remember Calixto Bieito's 'scandalous' and magnificent staging see at ENO in 2001 (reviewed by myself in 2004, issue o DVD in performance from Barcelona)? And as for the Don's own death, a nice touch to have a precursor.to his particular production's solution (a heart attack) foreshadowed in the finale of the first act.
Stanislas de Barbayrac is stunning in his second act aria, "Il mio tesoro ", the lead-back to the original melody a thing of beauty. This young singe has moved his with time and time again (a Florestan Fidelio at Paris absolutely unforgettable) Ain Anger is a stalwart Commdatore on his bloody return. Although the Vienna production's version is not on YouTube, there is one fom a dress rehearsal from the Met I 2018, with Cornelius Meister conducting:
Jordan's conducting is spot-on in terms of ensemble; I wonder if the hymn to liberty towards the end of the first act is a bit flat? Nice to have an onstage band for the operatic quotes, though. and nice to have a fortepiano continuo, too. Here he is taking a masterclass on his opera, and in interview (French only):
An interesting Don Giovanni, for sure. Available at Amazon on DVD here, and Bluray (fom which his was reviewed) here.