Live from the Metropolitan Opera, Don Giovanni in HD
Arrives in the Berkshires October 29
By: Susan Hall - 10/26/2011
The Don in action.
Ravaged!
Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi conducts and performs on the harpischord. Mariusz Kwicien sings the Don in a new production by Michael Grandage. While the new production has been uniformly trashed as dead on arrival, cameras should overcome its problems.
Fabio Luisi takes the opera back to its comic roots and the score bubbles along under the Maestro. He is a wonderful pick for the Met and we hope that he will assume larger and larger roles, not as a performer, but as artistic director.
Ramon Vargas does a star turn as Don Ottavio. Luca Pisaroni, is terrific as Leporello. Barbara Frittoli, familiar to Berkshire residents, masterfully phrases and is in complete command of the text. The singing throughout soars. Luisi, in accompanying the recitatives on the harpsichord, encourages the singers to improvise and this gives a fresh feeling to the sober background.
Who can resist Mozart.