Cheap Mozart - Don Giovanni / Kreizberg, Cachemaille, Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Video) (Derek Bailey) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mozart - Don Giovanni / Kreizberg, Cachemaille, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

certainly different but worth seeing
This Don Giovanni takes some getting used to but it is worth the effort and it keeps getting better. The singing and acting are spectacular. Leporello (Steven Page) sets a new standard for a totally convincing character and commited performer. He is perfect and original. Zerlina is also magnificent and well paired with Masetto. The slightly less coherent couple is Don Anna and Ottavio - both of whom are wonderful (John Mark Ainsley IS Don Ottavio)but they don't quite work together. It is hard to understand why he would be so in love with this sloppy half-undressed hysterical woman - but can he sing!! The whole cast is great. The only weak link is Don Giovanni himself. Even given this unusual interpretation which makes DG a thoroughly unlikeable character - and I'm talking disgusting - not evil, I feel Cahemaille is inadequate to the role. He sings well but his acting does not convince and he doesn't understand this complex character. He is too disgusting to be seductive, too goofy to be dangerous and annoyingly violent to Leporello. That being said - it is still a great show and you will be very entertained by the novelty and the quality.

As for the contemporary setting - I loved it. It is refreshing if not downright thrilling to see a new take on the old story and this one is quite brilliant. Deborah Warner is a brave woman. I don't have a problem with transferring Mozart to today's (supposedly) classless society. Wealth still equals power, There are rich and poor, powerful and less powerful, intimidating and intimidated in any time period. She is obviously making a point of doing things differently and why not? I thought the bland vaguely 1950's costumes were perfect. The three different dances during the party scene (waltz, jitterbug and twist) are a great touch. Once you get over the disappointment of minimanlist sets (which do have the advantage of not distracting - but then lots of other distractions are provided in the form of dressing and undressing) and the shock of the garish lighting, the contemporary costumes and extremely inventive use of props all work together to make a wonderfully creative whole. Then of course you have to accept that Don Giovanni is an unattractive rapist but that is another matter. There are so many inventive and expressive things done with clothing and accessories, such as DG seducing Zerlina with her wedding dress, the 18th century costumes at the ball, not to mention Don Elvira taking her prozac, DG wearing a sheet in the graveyard scene, and the life size plastic virgin Mary. In short, there are not many props but they are really considered and used effectively. Contrary to one reviewer I thought Masetto offering DG a coke was wonderful, but I could have dome without the chewing gum and potato chips.

The annoying things have to do with the unusual and unexpected use of action. In other words, where a character is usually very active, such as DG's champagne aria, he is completely static, and where characters are usually a little less active, such as conversations between DG and Leporello, they are so busy doing things that it is distracting. Most of these distractions, as I already mentioned, have to do with Don Giovanni changing his clothes which he does so many times I can't even count. Four or five times in the party scene alone.

The other problem is that the ghost of the Commendatore is not scary at all, unless you close your eyes (brilliant singing). Given that the filming is often close-ups, it is hard to get the full effect of the final scene.

This feminist interpretation makes men physically abusive (lots of hands-on physical violence. Only Ottavio is hesitant about physical contact). There is less physical touching when it comes to love or seduction. The sensuality is missing. When DG IS seductive, it is more because he is impersonating a sensitive new age guy than because of his sexual desireability.

I admit that I didn't like it at first - but that is probably because I was watching a bad quality pirated VCD (in China) where among other things the opening chords are missing, and the sound was awful. Now that I have a quality performance which I have watched over and over, I can only recommend that it is excellent - never a dull moment - with the stipulation that if you have never seen the opera before you might want to start with one of the more traditional versions.

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Some things were good, but some were terrible
Many things about this production were good. The singing was wonderful and Leporello, Donna Elivra, Don Ottavio and the Camendatore all pleased me greatly. The meager sets did not distress me as they did several of the other reviewers. I have found that a spare stage can often be effective and opulent sets can be distracting. I thought the sets were sufficient and that the actors used them well. The hell scene in particular was, I thought, effective.

I did not, however, much care for the rest of the production. Mozart does not modernize well. Too much of the stories depend on the relationships between the upper and lower classes in Mozart's own time. There is no reason for Masetto to go when Don Giovanni sends him away if there is no class difference. He is furious and Don Giovanni cannot really use physical intimidation and still expect to seduce Zerlina.
I was also displeased with Don Giovanni himself. I found him vulgar and brutish, and had trouble imagining that he could seduce even one women. For an excellant Don Giovanni I recomend Samuel Ramey. He is every bit as evil as this man, but far more appealing.

This Zerlina could have been charming if paired with a gentler Masetto; Masetto could have been amusing if paired with a stronger Zerlina, but together they made me uncomfortable. When Zerlina sings "Batti, batti o bel Masetto" he looks very ready to oblige her and she does not look as though she would object.

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Great Singing, Terrible Props
I just got this version of Don Giovanni and was very pleased with it. First of, Gilles Cachemailles was a great Don in this- the nastiest ever, I think, especially since I'm used to Thomas Allen, Benjamin Luxon, or Cesare Siepi, who are much more likable in a way. The rest of the cast is great- most notably Julian Banse's lovely Zerlina and Steven Page's comical Leporello. However, there are practically no sets- just a bridge and a platform that goes up and down. The costumes (modern) are totally blah. How scary is a Commendatore that doesn't look like a statue, but a businessman? Ugh. Still, the singing is so good that it makes up for the lack of creativity or fanciness in the sets or costumes.