Don Giovanni

'Don Giovanni' is not just one of Mozart's best but also one of my favourite operas of all time. Its story is dark, complex, suspenseful with a nice humorous touch at times, the characters are interesting (especially the titular character) and the music is wonderful, a case of not a bad aria, ensemble or note in the entire score.

It deserved far better than this wretched production, which has a couple of good points but they are far outweighed by the numerous things done badly. It is for me the worst 'Don Giovanni' on DVD, and this reviewer will even go far to say it is one of the worst opera productions they've seen.

The only really good elements of the production are the performances of the Leporello and Elvira. Kwanchul Youn, before he started singing Wagnerian roles, is just splendid. He possesses here a very rich and dark sound and less unsteady and stentorian as it sometimes would become later in his career, his rendition of the Catalogo aria is a knockout as it should be and he relishes the humour of the aria. He has great comic timing too, and avoids making Leporello too much of a bumbling buffoon. Veronique Gens, a lovely artist worthy of more praise, gives some of the production's most beautiful and elegant singing. Like Youn she is also true to character, rarely has there been a more elegant Elvira in recent years and she avoids being too sympathetic, too spiteful and too deranged.

Wojtek Drabowicz has a very warm sonorous voice that is used with good character, "La Ci Darem La Mano" and "Deh Vieni Alla Finestra" are tender and seductive and the Champagne aria is buoyantly sung (though sound quality mars it with a disconcerting voice-disappearing effect at times), if in more want for dynamic range and subtle shades. He is however badly let down by that the characterisation and how he's directed is all wrong, with very little of the character's complexity and nobility coming out, instead too often he is too much of a thug and then in other places he's almost too civilised. His relationship with Leporello, which is along with the character of Elvira the heart of the opera and can make or break a production of 'Don Giovanni', has very little conniving darkness, pathos and especially humour.

Elsewhere Regina Schorg is a rather vocally shrill Donna Anna, "Non Mi Dir" is movingly sung but "Or Sai Chi L'Onore Rapire A Me Volse" even for an aria that sits high in the voice has a lot of unpleasant edge. She does bring out the pathos side of the role, but the anger and thirst for vengeance is at best too lukewarm and restrained. Marisa Martins sounds underpowered as Zerlina, and displays little warmth and charm, "Batti Batti" needed to be more teasing and "Vedrai Carino" more gentle. Felipe Bou also sounds swallowed and drowned out, sound balance is part of the problem me thinks, and the character's diffidence and anger is brought out very blandly. Anatoli Kotcherga sounds imposing but doesn't terrify as the Commendatore, but in all fairness he is badly let down by nonsensical staging that even the most professional of professionals would have struggled to make much of. Marcel Reijans is the weak link as Ottavio, a pretty thankless role made almost pointless by the omission of "Il Mio Tesoro", Reijans is a very stolid actor throughout and sings with a lot of strain and very little nuance with a brutalised "Dalla Sua Pace".

Liceu's orchestra do their best and do play with intensity, energy and sympathy. But unfortunately the orchestra and singers are not always in sync with an incredibly messy wedding scene ensemble-wise, and they can be too loud for the singers in ensembles. The chorus can sound ragged and like they could have done with more rehearsal. Bertrand De Billy too often, apart from some appropriate fast tempos, does take too many parts too fast that it affects not just the drama, which in the wedding scene and the end of Act 1 were far too frantic, but it affects the singers' enunciation and intonation (it actually sounded as if they were caught out by the speed).

Technical values are not too great. The picture quality can be too dark and the sound doesn't just see the orchestra being favoured over the singing but also at points parts keep disappearing in and out, plus there is far too much stage noise and unfortunately it's very loud and masks the music. Video directing is not always bad though, though with too many camera wobbles and lack of focus. Beware of cuts, due to a different edition (Prague is it?), "Il Mio Tesoro" and "Mi Tradi" are omitted and because they add a lot to the characters of Ottavio and Elvira the omissions to me are inexplicable.

It's Calixto Bieito's staging that ruins this 'Don Giovanni' though. The modern production values look cheap and ugly, and while I've not always minded Bieito's opera productions (though even his more restrained productions like his 'Carmen' have moments that don't completely work) one can see easily why it was so maligned when first performed. The humour, darkness, pathos and charm of the opera is completely lost, and replaced with staging that's blatantly inconsistent with the libretto (like the whole business with Donna Anna's rape), irrelevant, gratuitously malicious and very distracting and distasteful stage business that adds nothing, including the most inept staging of the final Commendatore dinner scene of any 'Don Giovanni' on DVD (yes, worse than Salzburg's).

Overall, apart from the performances of Youn and Gens this is a wretched 'Don Giovanni'. 2/10 Bethany Cox