(Salzburg, Austria) The red carpet was rolled out for the VIPs in front of the Haus für Mozart this afternoon. The occasion? The premiere performance of Don Giovanni.
Actually, this Claus Guth production is a remount, having been seen in Salzburg for the past few seasons. It's a modern day setting, with Christian Schmidt's forest uniset placed on a round that turns to give different perspectives of the woods. That gives rise to some eye-brow raising conundrums. A few examples will suffice. There are no masked people in the Guth-Schmidt staging, even though they're sung about by the trio of Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, and Donna Anna. And Giovanni sings of wine while opening a beer can. And in Deh, vieni alla finestra there simply isn't a window to be seen.
There was a new Giovanni on stage today, Canadian baritone Gerald Finley who took over from the previous Don, Christopher Maltman (who can be seen in Così).
Unlike his predecessor, Finley played the infamous lothario more as a lady's man, especially in the scene with Zerlina (Là ci darem la mano). Vocally, Deh vieni was a highlight, beautifully delivered and shaded.
Erwin Schrott reprised his role as Leporello, upstaging Finley with his clowning and adolescent antics, some of which were new to this production. Vocally, he has no problems projecting or delivering the role in an audience winning manner. However, his palette of vocal colours is severely limited.
Franz-Josef Selig was the new Commendatore, and a good one, too.
Dorothea Röschmann was an accomplished Elvira. Ditto for Malin Byström as Anna, though both gals each had a moment were they over sang.
As Don Ottavio, Joel Prieto's Dalla sua pace suffered slightly due to too quick a pace by Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the pit. Prieto fared better in Il mio tesoro.
Christiane Karg and Adam Plachetka cut a fine Zerlina and Masetto respectively.
Alas, Nézet-Séguin treated Mozart as though he were a high-Romantic composer. He totally lost the balance between the pit and the stage on the very last pages of the score nary a singer could be heard over the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The happy-end sextet was not used. Fortepianist Felice Venanzoni was inventive and creative during his accompanying of the recitatives. The production was applauded to the rafters by the audience.
With that, it's auf Wiedersehen Salzburg, and Hallo Bayreuth for the new Tannhäuser.
Photo by Leonard Turnevicius: The cast and chorus of Don Giovanni take a bow.
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