Pectacular Don

Don Giovanni - Royal Opera House, 21 February 2012

Francesca Zambello's witless, charmless, tasteless production hasn't improved with age. But great performers can redeem even the most idiotic of stagings - and frequently have to in these parts. If Erwin Schrott isn't the finest Don Giovanni around right now I'll eat my pants. Yours too.

Untrammeled by Zambello's vaguely 18th century 'look', his Don is a timeless archetype, fuelled by the sense of entitlement and complete lack of self-doubt seen in masters of the universe from Genghis Khan to Rupert Murdoch.  His every appetite must be satisfied immediately. He leaps on Donna Elvira and Zerlina almost before he's even said hello. You just know that if he fancied a steak he'd go bite a cow.

Why Schrott is giving up the role is a mystery. He claims he doesn't like the character, but nothing in his performance betrays that fact. He sang with variety and taste, floating a seductive Deh vieni, exploding into a full voiced roar for the final flames.

Pavol Breslik was pretty impressive too. Too often Don Ottavio is an irritating drip, but Breslik makes him a chivalrous counterpart to Don Giovanni, embodying the nobility and civic responsibility which characterises the other side of the ruling class. He delivered his arias with impeccable Mozartian style and such superb control that not a breath was perceptible.

The rest of the cast, while perfectly decent, struggled to escape the bounds of the production. I felt particularly sorry for Ruxandra Donose, quite probably a decent Donna Elvira anywhere else, but trapped here in one-note hysterics as a jilted bride, forever gathering the skirts of her ragged and worn wedding dress.

I lucked out with a side view so restricted I couldn't see the set (a revolving wall tricked out like an '80s Madonna video with dry ice and crucifixes, if memory serves). Fortunately, the functional blocking parks the singers right at the front of the stage for most of the time, so I didn't miss too much action.

I also missed out on the scheduled conductor, Constantinos Carydis, replaced at short notice by Christopher Willis from the ROH music staff. Some initial coordination and balance problems aside, he did a sterling job in the pit. Crucially, his tempos were spot-on. Not quite Colin Davis, but then who is?

Production photos (above) - Mike Hoban for Royal Opera House

Curtain call photos (below) - intermezzo.typepad.com

Comments

[Mark]

I saw this earlier in the run - January 21st - and I enjoyed the orchestra, singing, conducting.

I did not like the set at all. Distracting, but also seemed to make a creaking noise at times when it was moving! I was in the front row of amphi so goodness knows how distracting for those lower down.

[marcillac]

Anything about Carmela Remigio as Donna Anna or Kate Lindsey as Zerlina?
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Intermezzo replies - neither had a great night, and I'm not familiar enough with either of them to know whether that would be the exception or the rule.

[Kath]

Yay am going to see this on Wednesday ( and I was very lucky to meet hot Schrott after his talk earlier in the month!) :-)

[EC]

marcillac: Carmela Remigio was an excellent Donna Anna.. in fact, I thought one of the star performances on the evening I attended. Hope to see her more at Covent Garden.

[Andres]

It was a good show. Shame I was trying too hard to spot Anna in the crowd to no avail.

[Kit]

Caught this cast tonight: massive improvement on the first cast. @Marcillac: Kate Lindsey was incredibly comfortable in the role and way better than her predecessor last month. And I agree with EC - Remigio excellent.

[il_contino]

I, for one, totally hated it. Erwin Schrott has no technique to speak of, he just barks and and bellows his way through the role without a hint of sophistication or beautiful singing whatsoever. His voice has no blade at all and he basically imposes him self by contracting his pecs and shouting. Don Giovanni may be a bad guy, to an extent, but he's still nobility and he's voice has none of this. His lack of technique was especially visible in the final scene when he appears shirtless: he uses no lower breath support at all. He breathes too high and contracts his pecs to shout... God forbid any kind of dilatation occurs in his stomach...

Ottavio was OK, when he sang full voice it was beautiful and steady, but when he sang softly this unsteady and fluttery vibrato kicked in. Of course, to the delight of ROH's audiences: it seems any singer capable either of shouting with fierceness or whispering gets an immediate bravo. I recall Aylin Perez singing one of the finest Traviatas I've ever ever heard and from both the performances I attended she got a very lukewarm reception.

The Donnas were terrible. Donna Anna had an intrusive wobble and the voice is split in 3 and Elvira was consistently either flat or very spread on the top.

Esposito was good compared to the reset, but nothing close to what Ildebrando d'Arcangelo delivered the night before as Figaro. I liked him to start with, but then felt he was overacting a bit as the evening went on, but on the whole he was a much finer singer than Schrott.

[Deborah]

Saw this last night (Kit, you should have waved!). First half hour felt a bit rushed - no sense of the scale of the tragedy of the Commendatore's death, for example - with orchestra and singers seeming to struggle to keep up. Settled down from the Catalogue Aria onwards, by which time the singers had warmed into the roles.

Erwin most definitely playing to the crowds, coming on to some of the audience (was Anna in the side stalls circle immediately above the orchestra, I wonder), and no shirt for the whole of the finale. Be still, my beating heart!

[Ursula]

Schrott - finest Don? It must be a joke (not a very good one). In this boring production Keenlyside was far more better, and Mariusz Kwiecien was the best (best voice, best actor).

[DESR]

First Jonas and now Erwin. The dial does seem to have got a bit stuck on the joys of male shirtlessness to (mainly) female operagoers. I know it's a notch up culturally from the Chippendales, and I blame Simon Keenlyside for starting all this off, but could some of the readers of this blog go and take a cold shower asap. Heaven forfend that we should risk forgetting artistry for something a rather more...ahem...earthy. Jonas and Erwin are not 'objects', but one is getting the impression that that is how they are really viewed. If these types of comments were being directed at female artists ('e.g. get your top off love'), would not many of us be getting a tad queasy, or even rather cross?

[SopranoLili]

My 3 favourites: Simon, Jonas & Erwin (and Chris Maltman too). With or without shirts, it's the voices that matter, but hey, the nice abs don't spoil anything!

[pianoronald]

You can start eating your pants - I'll keep mine on. Never heard of Simon Keenlyside, Peter Mattei or Mariusz Kwiecien?

[Oroveso]

Somehow I managed to survive 40 years of DON GIOVANNI performances without what is apparently de rigeur today: a topless protagonist. It certainly wasn't for lack of handsome/hunky leading men: Cesare Siepi was easy on the eyes and ears, even fully-clothed. I wonder what's more important today? Good voice, good technique and good Mozart style or pecs, butts and bulges?
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Intermezzo replies - pecs, butts and bulges. Unquestionably.

[Andres]

Well, DERS, it's not just looks but it helps. Like this evening's' Rosenkavalier at the ENO is a pleasure to watch but next door's Rusalka is dissapointinly half ugly. And also it's not just looks, otherwise I'd demand from our dear opera bloggers a weekly update, with pictures, of James Valenti.

[villagediva]

Saw this on the 18th. Erwin terrific- a beautiful child who has always had instant gratification and who no-one could resist. - The pic of him smiling captures it. The adult monster was still irresistible, but scary. He put across the physical power, charm and menace brilliantly - the shirtlessness was gratuitous, but somehow I was able to cope with it..... But didn't much like his leading the cast in a whooping forward run at the curtain calls. (He left the stage for the side stalls on my night too, bit too near me for comfort) Set horrendous - who wants to stare at the Waterloo Imax building all evening? And standing Giovanni at the top of it for 'Fin ch'han dal vino' where we couldn't see his head was just baaaaad.
Masetto was priceless as an inarticulate ox who was powerless against the nobility, angry but too gentle to actually hit Zerlina. Pavol Breslik sang beautifully (drowned out once by the orchestra under Carydis who looked unwell and had to blow his nose). He actually gave Don Ottavio some charisma- a still centre of clarity, integrity and love amidst everyone else's confused emotions- and with such sincerity. A great night, but maybe more music-theatre than opera..............

[seagirl]

Did you see Rusalka? I can't wait to hear your comments on the "brothel" staging!
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Intermezzo replies - I saw it and will write something later.