Deh vieni all'opera (Wednesday Don Giovanni at ROH)

Last nights I went to see the Don Giovanni at the ROH. No, don’t say again ;-) Wait with the again until Friday, then I will allow it :-)

I was lucky to get a last minute seat while I was only checking if it was sold out. Good seat to hear the orchestra but … forget you ever had feet, back or a good sitting position. I am still sitting in a strange twisted semi yoga position I acquired during last night’s performance. But they say one has to suffer a bit for art. I would willingly let myself be twisted like that again, if it was to see this performance again.

And I gained a new respect for the artists! All I am doing this week is follow them around the opera and sit there listening to them act, sing, live the performance. And I felt completely drained last night, Joyce DiDonato mentioned taking vitamins in her blog. Well, I already need them, and the week isn’t over yet. I don’t know how they do it! And they seem to have so much fun doing it! I just realised that all my ideas about what they do, need to be thrown out of the window. I can’t even begin to imagine the effort that goes into such a performance, or any performance for that matter. Joyce gave a wonderful recount of her work ethic during the preparations for this performance and it gives you an idea about just how tough the singers work to produce such magic on stage!

The combination between the cinema the other day and the live last night was perfect. Musically of course last night was much better, nothing beats the live sound! And you rarely hear Mozart played so crisp and lively and you even more rarely have a cast that can keep up the speedy pace.

I’d like to mention Kyle Ketelsen here :-)



pic from MundoClassico

There has been much praise in the press for his interpretation of the role and he is a brilliant actor. He and Leporello are one! Your could follow the story just by watching his face or his gestures. The audience also never has enough and he is the main trigger for the endless giggles. And it never is overacted or exaggerated, it always keeps just on the right side of the believable. But what I enjoyed very very very much yesterday was his singing! You know how this role is so well known for… Madamina, il catalogo e questo… ? Yes it was as good as it gets, but there was so much more!

The catalogo didn’t feel like it was the central focus of his singing, it was perfectly integrated and also well balanced. He told the facts without overdoing it, which happens many times. It is what it is and it is all written there and he is the man who has seen it all happen. In like his relationship with the Don as well, he is his employee but I like it that he doesn’t overdo the fear and the humble servant routine. The range of colours he puts in every “padron mio”! is fascinating! There is just that good amount of spite in it to spice things up a bit and I never got the feeling that the Don could do without him. I mean he could leave him and look for another master, but there is just that much amount of fascination with the adventure and the risk and the absurdity of the Don’s endless shenanigans to keep him put :-)


The advantage of all the experience Kyle brings to Leporello is that he can diversify the character while at the same time keeping the singing brilliant and effortless. It is so good it becomes normality and you become so engrossed in the character you end up taking the singing for granted. And we really shouldn’t, because it is of amazing quality and beauty of sound. It is smooth and rounded and the diction is superb. He is actually the one on stage which you can understand best! He is one of those few singers where the voice is in perfect harmony with the music, both compliment each other and none outdoes the other and it takes a very good singer to have the confidence to do that. I liked him being a musical constant in the show, steady there, reminding you always of the quality of the score Mozart has given him. Thank you Kyle for reminding everyone that Leporello is not just the one who scribbles down the catalogo :-) And I hope to hear you sing the Don part sometimes, or anything else you might decide to take on :-)



pic from Metro

I have said before just how much I enjoyed Joyce DiDonato’s singing! It was better live than the other day on screen :-) I think it is really hard for any recording to capture all the colour of a voice as it lives when it is live. There is just something special about the way a voice ripples through a theatre and not all can do it; hers does, it has a richness to it that makes it flow, vibrate with the audience and pull you in. The Ah, chi mi dice mai was just as strong a statement as I felt it on Monday, but had a touch more sweetness to the vindication, we not only smiled with Elvira, we also felt for her from the very first moment. And the In quali eccessi…ahhhhhhh, every time I hear it I love it more. It is my favourite one from Elvira! It is so complex and so touching! And to anyone who couldn’t hear her tonight, Joyce absolutely mesmerised the 2200 strong audience!! They wouldn’t stop giggling and laughing for a minute during the performance, except for this aria (and for Deh vieni alla finestra)!!! Hardly a breath was heard, and the applause at the end said it all!!!

In know Anna and Elvira are very different characters, but musically in many performances I have heard before, I didn’t really feel or hear the difference, sometimes these beautiful story telling arias just seem a struggle for breath or for the next coloratura and one is happy when it is completed. I like the sound of it, but at lengths have trouble connecting with it or distinguishing the characters when it is just an exercise of excellence in sound. With Joyce I can admire the ripples, the frills and thrills of the music while at the same time feeling the story!! Maybe I am just musically inept when it comes to this kind of thing, but I have always always loved Don Giovanni, so maybe I am not incapable of connecting to the coloraturas. At least I hope I am not and in all the love of this score, I have to say it is the first time I am truly falling in love with the particular arias mentioned. I hope Joyce loved the role as well, because I can’t bear to think that Friday is the last time for a long time that I will hear her sing In quali eccessi!




I also know which is the bit of the DVD that will also definitely be scratched from too much playing… it is that unbelievable Deh vieni alla finestra!! And to think Simon Keenlyside is hanging from the wall while singing it! I like the vivacity of the score and his many fiery inputs into it, but it is in this particular aria that I get to enjoy best about Simon’s artful singing, those long phrases that leave you breathless with their warmth and sheer beauty. It is where his voice is at its best and both nights, and I am guessing every night he ever sang it, the arias feels much too short, you wish he would sing much much more of that… Whenever I hear him singing it I can’t help but think:

“Tu ch'hai la bocca dolce più del miele,Tu che il zucchero porti in mezzo al core” Indeed!! That kind of singing can only come from a voice as sweet as honey and a heart as sweet as sugar :-)

I know it has been mentioned before, but I also enjoy his recitatives, fabulous diction and his indulgent “Leporeeelloooo” and impatient“finiscila! ” are so much fun! And has anyone noticed how, when he takes Leporello’s clothes and talks to Mazzeto as if he were his servant, as the score requires, his voice goes incredibly deep? It is a register in his voice you don’t get to hear very often in this score (that’s why we have Leporello, to bring the darker, lower undertones musically speaking :-)), but it is sooo beautifulll. The first time I heard it on Monday I went ohhhhhhh, can we have more of that please???

So for all these reasons and many more I am going again on Friday for yet another shot of Mozart and the Don, his servant and his beaus :

Sadly it will be the last but I have had the time of my life this week!

But I will always cherish the memories of my one week spent with “Don Giovanni”!!!

Don Giovanni
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Director Francesca Zambello
Designs Maria Björnson
Conductor Charles Mackerras
Don Giovanni Simon Keenlyside
Donna Anna Marina Poplavskaya
Don Ottavio Ramón Vargas
Donna Elvira Joyce DiDonato
Leporello Kyle Ketelsen
Masetto Robert Gleadow
Zerlina Miah Persson
Commendatore Eric Halfvarson

More reviews:
TheClassicalSource
TheTTCritic on Wednesday's performance
Telegraph
Guardian
Unione Sarda
Intermezzo
Between castles blog
Boulezian blog
Camden New Journal
Runnicles blog
GLT blog
Dognoah blog
La Verbena blog
TheSocialist Worker
TaminoKlassikforum
TheSpectator