Nearly a Male Lulu Music & Vision 10 luglio

Nearly a Male Lulu
'Don Giovanni' in Aix-en-Provence,
a black comedy of sex and loneliness,
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

A much awaited production of Mozart's Don Giovanni inaugurated the 2010 Aix-en-Provence Festival on 1 July 2010, and your reviewer attended the third performance on 5 July. The main reasons why this production is important are as follows:
• For the first time since the 1998 production -- staged by Peter Book and conducted, on alternative evenings, by Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding -- the festival dared to propose a new Don Giovanni. The Brook-Abbado-Harding production has been considered for years to be a milestone, has toured around the world and also has also been revived in Aix-en-Provence with much acclaim.
• The challenge of staging, costumes and dramaturgy had been entrusted to a Russian team (Dmitri Tcherniakov, Elena Zaitseva, Alexei Parin). This is a young team, but already well-known, although not for Mozart productions. The musical aspects were to be handled by a well known conductor, Louis Langrée, and the comparatively small Freiburger Barockorchester which would use period instruments.
• An international cast had been assembled of singers with a good flair for acting : Bo Skovhus ( Don Giovanni), Kyle Ketelsen (Leporello), David Bizic (Masetto), Colin Balzer (Don Ottavio), Marlis Petersen (Donna Anna), Kristine Opolais (Donna Elvira), Kerstin Avemo (Zerlina) and Anatoli Kotscherga (the Commendatore).
The Russian team has made a name for itself on account of the heretical, non-traditional staging. The Freiburger Barockorchester is a first class ensemble with experience mostly in concert but almost none in musical theatre or opera. The undertaking is co-produced by the Festival with the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and the Bolshoi in Moscow. If things go well, it will tour all over Europe and became a standard Bolshoi repertory feature for the next few years.

Bo Skovhus as Don Giovanni and Marlis Petersen as Donna Anna in Act 1 of 'Don Giovanni' at Aix-en-Provence. Photo © 2010 Pascal Victor / Artcomart
Reportedly, the 1 July 2010 opening night was quite stormy, with part of the audience protesting the stage direction (with attendant stage sets and costumes). The 5 July performance was much quieter, even though at the final curtain calls some in the audience made their dislike rather clear when Dmitri Tcherniakov joined the rest of the cast. At all the performances, the Freiburger Barockorchester received real accolades, even though, or just because, its sound was so different from that of any standard run-of-the-mill Don Giovanni.
Let's make it clear up front that your reviewer appreciated the performance, even though some clarifications of Act 2, scene 2 (and maybe some changes in the staging of that scene) could improve its comprehension.
Don Giovanni is a very intriguing opera. It can be open to many interpretations; eg it can be effectively used even to teach 'game theory' in advanced economics classes. Its general reading and understanding has undergone many modifications through the decades. In the nineteenth century, for instance, it became general practice to end the opera with Don Giovanni's descent into hell and simply omit the closing sextet; the tragic side of the opera was emphasized, not without a moralistic attempt. It was only in the second part of the twentieth century that the dramma giocoso nature of the opera was better understood: when Da Ponte finally lets his hero sink into hell, this conclusion is only tragic in the sense of a puppet show -- as with quite a few other situations in the opera. During the last few years, the puppet show nature of Don Giovanni is often mingled with commedia dell'arte. (Leporello is almost a brother of Harlequin.) Da Ponte's text is neither tragedy nor comedy: it belongs to the undefinable realm of his art where laughter alternates with tears. In this context, the final sextet is essential to remove the last sting of the hero's grotesque fate.

Bo Skovhus as Don Giovanni and Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello in Act 2 of 'Don Giovanni' at Aix-en-Provence. Photo © 2010 Pascal Victor / Artcomart
In more recent readings, the emphasis is on Don Giovanni's passionate love of life and ebullient vitality (even in the last days of his existence). All themes related to him, from the allegro in the overture to his bold retorts in his dialogues with the statue, exude vitality and a demonic urge which not even annihilation can alarm. The other characters of the play, apart from the Commendatore, are grouped around him, and he seems to belong to a different world (or century).
Dmitri Tcherniakov, Elena Zaitseva and Alexei Parin depart from all these interpretations. Don Giovanni is no longer a dramma giocoso but becomes a black comedy of sex (with, of course, power) and loneliness. The protagonist remains central (with the Commendatore) but the others have an equal status in starving for sex (and power) and being desperately alone. There are very few occasions to laugh.
It is a totally new concept: the play develops in a single stage set (the traditional elegant living-dining room of any contemporary mansion). It does not evolve in a single day, but over nearly two months. All the characters (except for Leporello) are related to one another by family ties. We are, of course, reminded of Chekhov, but also of Tennessee Williams and Italian authors such as Bernando Bertolucci and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Bo Skovhus, for instance, is dressed as Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris.

The Finale of Act 2 of 'Don Giovanni' at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Photo © 2010 Pascal Victor / Artcomart
Don Giovanni's ebullient vitality gradually sinks into destitution and alcoholism: the Act 2 serenade with its delightful mandolin accompaniment becomes a desperate remembrance of the better times of the past, with its intimate mood sharply contrasting the bubbling champagne aria or Leporello's catalogue aria. The three women are starved of sex and have severe difficulties in reaching their goals; they and their men sink into a swamp of senseless loneliness. In short, this is a provocative staging; it will be interesting to learn how the Madrid, Toronto and Moscow audiences react to it.
The singers are also excellent actors. Bo Skovhus is to be complimented for the manner he shows the gradual destitution of the protagonist -- nearly a male Lulu. Louis Langrée extracts from the orchestra a darker sound than usual for Don Giovanni, perfectly in line with the rest of this production.
Copyright © 10 July 2010 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
DON GIOVANNI
CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY
AIX-EN-PROVENCE
FRANCE
AUSTRIA
<< M&V home Concert reviews Rusalka >>