Mozart - Don Giovanni
by Sven-Eric Bechtolf
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anton Scharinger, Eva Mei, Malin Hartelius, Piotr Beczala, Simon KeenlysideDirector: Sven-Eric Bechtolf
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language)
Format: Digital Sound, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 185 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: EMI
Movie Reviews of Mozart - Don Giovanni
Movie Review: Musically and visually, a Superb Production.
Summary: 5 Stars
Simon Keenlyside is the Don of Dons in my book and he does indeed sing and act the role to perfection in this carefully thought through yet passionate production from Zurich. But Keenlyside does not steal the show - he's too fine an artist to play that game. The other members of the cast sing and act convincingly, working together with Keenlyside, suggesting the mutual respect and timing of a repertory cast the members of which know one another well. The musical direction and orchestral playing realize all of the power and delicacy and the cruelty and comedy of Mozart's score.
The set design is simple in concept yet rich in color, texture, and lighting, making effective use of red, black, gold and white fabrics of various sorts in the costuming, the stage furniture, or the subtly moving curtains that not only provide for a set change but also contribute to the shifting moods of the drama. The use of reflecting mirrors and rear projection adds to the sense that the Don's world is founded upon deception - deception of others and of himself.
The director's approach honors Mozart and Da Ponte and is definitely not yet another example of self-consciously "modern" Euro-trash. The time and place is not 18th century Spain but an unspecified period in the last hundred years or more. Is it London in the 1920s? Or New York City in the 1950s? Or Berlin in the 1990s? Paris just before World War I? There is even a passing aura of Vienna in the late 19th century. Is the setting the lobby of a grand hotel? Or is it an exclusive night club? The opera takes place in no time, all time, and our time. The scene of the action is an interior public space in which all kinds of behavior takes place, be it formal or intimate, violent or funny, elegant or decadent. It is the society which has created the Don and in which the Don acts to destroy or damage the lives of others. We see ourselves and our own world on this stage.
I highly recommend this DVD. There are other outstanding, insightful productions of Don Giovanni also available on DVD, such as Maazel/Raimondi, Smith/Perry, Harnoncourt/Gilfry, and most recently Harding/Mattei, and I wouldn't be without any of them. Each offers me a different experience of perhaps the most difficult of all of Mozart's operas to realize on the stage. On the other hand, there are the multiple challenges presented by The Magic Flute! Which leads us back to Simon Keenlyside, in this case his incomprable interpretations of the role of Papageno. Don Giovanni, Leporello, Papageno, Figaro, the Count: Keenlyside has all of these roles mastered, in part because he is wise enough never to sing any of them quite the same way from one production to the next.
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