Customer Reviews

Mozart - Don Giovanni / Maazel, Raimondi, Te Kanawa, Paris Opera

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is possibly the most beautiful opera video ever produced. It was not filmed on stage, but on location in Vicenza, Italy, with absolutely stunning setting. It features excellent performances, including Ruggero Raimondi (the perfect Don) and Kiri Te Kanawa (the perfect Donna Elvira). Of the 5 or 6 greatest operas ever written (all Mozart's, in my opinion), some say Don Giovanni stands out as the most perfect achievement. Whatever your opinion may be, by getting this video you will be getting the very finest rendition of this masterwork I have ever seen. It is sung in the original Italian, with English subtitles. Incidentally, one reviewer complained of the poor quality of the sound. This is unfortunately true (shame on Kultur Videos!) but don't let this stop you from purchasing this excellent video - you won't regret it.

This is a "movie opera", and I am not a fan of them, because I find some of the passion is filtered out when the singing is separated from the acting, and though this film is well done, it has a lot of that "lip-synch" look, which dims the dramatic impact. I would rather watch a filmed live performance, with less gloss, and more feeling.
The lavish production is stunning to look at, with great art direction (by Alexandre Tauner) and cinematography (by Gerry Fischer), a very attractive cast, and of course, Mozart's score, which I think is his most sublime masterpiece.

The singers are excellent: Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira, and Edda Moser as Donna Anna really shine above all, both so lovely and graceful, and vocally wonderful. Moser especially manages to be emotionally expressive. Ruggero Raimondi is a fine Don Giovanni, Jose Van Dam a rather elegent Leporello, with John Macurdy as Il Commendatore, Kenneth Riegel as Ottavio, Teresa Berganza as Zerlina, and Malcolm King as Masetto rounding out the cast well.

The sound: The volume fluctuates depending on where the singer is placed in the scene, fading out as they walk away for instance, which is dramatically appropriate, but a musical disaster. There is a quartet that is bizarre in its balance, since two of the singers are in the background. Lorin Maazel conducts the Paris Opera, which in this, and other recordings I have heard, does not have the richest and fullest sound in the world, and may be adding to the problems.
The Don's demise however, starting with the Commendatore's "Don Giovanni a cenar teco" is marvelous, and despite the camera inexplicably lingering on the servant boy instead of the action at times, it is a riveting scene, with some of the most superb music ever written.
Though well worth viewing, I would put this film into the "rent not buy" category, unless one is an inveterate opera collector.

Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni is masterful. The opening scenes resonate perfectly with the music. The gathering clouds slowly darkening the sky and the melancholy sea beating against the shoreline foretell of a sea-change. Bad days are ahead for the Don. Ruggero Raimondi is the perfect Don Giovanni - totally believable and true to Mozart's characterization. The location shots add a dimension to Opera that take this production to another level. Losey makes sure the music is always in sync with the action. When Don Ottario is singing in the Gondolla, for instance, the oarsman is keeping perfect time with the music which, esthetically, is a major improvement over what is normally a dry section of the Opera. Another interesting touch that Losey gives to this production is the character, played by Eric Adjani, called the "Silent Valet." A sly mephistophelean presence that provides an excellent counterpoint to the levity of José van Dam's Leporello. Though he never speaks, his demeanor encourages the Don's baser instincts (one might even argue that he is an image of the younger Giovanni). Losey is masterful in creating visual images that give the story more depth. There is a scene in particular, in which Giovanni watches a nude girl bathing. While she is unaware of his presence the scene is a combination of innocence and sensuality. When she does become aware of the intrusion, Giovanni gives her his penetrating stare, which she returns with a look that is knowing and somehow sad. There has indeed been a sea change and the Don is travelling inevitably down a road that will lead to his demise.

This cast and production are a once in a century (if that) event; there is no better performance available, period. Raimondi is at the height of his career and the finest Don Juan in anyone's memory, Kanawa is brutally on target as Elvira, Edda Moser has only one better Donna Anna performance (but there is no better person to play her), van Dam is stupendously played (almost too well)... one can go on and on. Losey, and everyone else was involved in this project really know their performance history of Don Giovanni and the Don Juan legacy in general. This literary myth has a life of its own over the past few hundred years and this project created huge ripples throughout the European opera community. Casts like this almost never see the transfer to video. The actual production conditions were authentically grueling and difficult, much like a live stage performance.

This movie suffers from technical flaws in the filming, sound production, DVD transfer, etc. There is even an encoding mistake in the DVD that overlaps for about 5 seconds of audio at one point, though overall the audio and video are cleaned up from the previous VHS/PAL releases.

What I can say without hesitation is that it is akin to viewing Michelangelo's David, through a broken and slightly hazy window. Once you forget about the lens, you will never see anything to compare to what you are seeing. And the clarity of the window does not in any way reflect on the actual miracle.

I truly wanted to enjoy this Don Giovanni. Unfortunately, not enough advantage is taken of the film medium (for example, the entire "Mille torbidi pensieri" section of "Sola, sola in buio loco" is done in a single shot, with all the actors standing in a line, providing no advantage over a staged production). The sound, as it has been said before, is quite terrible, but what I simply cannot force myself to overlook is the character interpretation.

Raimondi is a decent enough Don Giovanni, being sinister, shameless, and coldly proper. Unfortunately, Don Giovanni is not the only character in the opera. If he were, this would be a pretty good movie. Much of our view of Don Giovanni's character has to do with his servant. Typically, Leporello is unwisely played as a complete doofus. In this case, Leporello is the opposite, if just as bad--almost completely devoid of personality, which is nothing short of a wonder, considering both the music and the text given to the character. I never knew that "Ah, pieta, signori miei" could be sung almost completely lifelessly. He looks somewhat unconcerned when his life is threatened in "Sola, sola in buio loco," and, far from being afraid of his master, seems quite indignant when Don Giovanni tries to blame him for the attack on Zerlina. The amount of propriety he displays would work for a more typical servant role, but Leporello is not a typical servant role, being both our access to the story and our contact with reality, and most of the comedy in the opera, to boot. I was severely disappointed in this case. I wanted the wit and sarcasm of Leporello to have more than a cameo appearance. I wanted him to have a little humor to him, maybe even the capacity for a smile. I wanted him to actually make sense.

Kiri Te Kanawa is a wonderful singer, but she seems to have a similar problem to Jose van Dam's in her Donna Elvira. She is angry, but there isn't exactly a personality to go with her anger. She reacts to the situations and the text, but without any great thought to why her character reacts this way. I found it very odd, actually, that she's singing "God protect my trusting heart" with a joyous smile. Her "Mi tradi" is slow, frustratingly lyrical, and altogether unsatisfying, but that is truly the fault of the conductor.

The filming of Masetto's "Ho capito, signor si" is a little silly. He is standing outside the house into which Don Giovanni and Zerlina have disappeared as he sings to them, which works until he sings, "Vengo, vengo" ("I'm coming, I'm coming"). This line is meant to be sung to Leporello, who is urging him to come away to Don Giovanni's palace. When Masetto sings this to the air, it doesn't make sense. Unfortunately, this sort of disregard for the text occurs throughout the opera. For example, Leporello imitates the footsteps of the statue without having actually heard them--he only sees a brief, ghostly visage of the statue, which quickly fades in and out, but never walks at all.

The rest of the cast is made up of gorgeous voices. I could have closed my eyes and been quite happy, but watching them is quite boring. The only one that shows a real glimmer is Zerlina (thank God for Teresa Bergonza), who very much seems to enjoy tormenting Masetto during "Batti, batti."

I did like the way the Catalogue Aria was filmed, if not the way it was sung. It is visually interesting for various servants to pull out enormous volumes and spread their single lengthy page far, far across what appears to be Don Giovanni's front lawn, down into the nearby village. It's over-the-top, but appropriately so. I also like that Donna Anna is not the first to see her father dead--that the Commendatore is killed in the middle of a street, and people are gathering and some servants are even lifting the body onto a stretcher when Donna Anna and Don Ottavio see the scene. I was quite happy that Don Giovanni and Leporello are literally shouting in each others' faces at the end of "Eh via, buffone," even if Leporello appears more stuck-up than angry.

One scene which made me excited for a brief moment was the Act I finale, just as we are entering the "Tremor, tremor, scellerato!" section. Don Giovanni seizes Leporello and pushes him through the crowd, and the Anti-Giovanni Wheel follows them. "Ah! Camera movement!" I thought excitedly. "They're taking advantage of the action in the music!" It was short-lived. The Don and his servant quickly reach a point where they stop and keep singing while everyone else stands some distance away. This is what I mean when I say this movie does not take advantage of the film medium.

There are definitely better Don Giovannis on DVD, including even the all-right von Karajan production with Samuel Ramey. Far superior is the Met production of 2000 with Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, which I have reviewed on Amazon. While no specific production will please everybody, some come closer than others, and regrettably, this one does not even come close for me.

I have a very personal relation to that production. Being a teenage vandal I used to record heavy metal music over the operatic masterpieces on Decca's cassettes - there was a shortage of a quality tape in Russia these days.

One day in was Don Giovanni soundtrack's turn to fall victim - my friend's Black Sabbath album yearned to be duplicated. I was in a strange mood so I just turned on the opera to make things worse for me - the usual teenage masochism.

The sounds streaming from Hi-Fi made me listen till the end. Then I pushed the rewind and listened once more. Got hold of the film next day. Yesterday was a day of my 100th viewing - give or take a couple times.

Since then I've seen a lot, but Losey's film is still my favourite. The movie is a perfect introduction to the world of opera.

It takes care of many preconceptions that prevent lots of people from enjoying the genre.

The casting is perfect. Many of us have a problem with separating a voice and a body. Young lovely virgin sung by colossal diva does not look veritable. Wrinkled and potbellied owner of the divine tenor voice makes us wish for a younger and leaner replacement for the romantic lover's part. How to solve that?

The sensous lips of deliciously breasted Sophie Lourent were opening to the voice of Renata Tebaldi in Aida's production but the result is pure kitsch.

Enter the Losey's masterpiece. Everyone is perfectly cast. Ruggero Raimondi makes you care for the character, despise the lecher and respect the brave man who challenges Fate. He contributes his eyes to the best closeups in opera films, his non-athletic body - to the bathtub scene, when the fluffy clothes are shod and we see that sagging flesh - the striking visual commentary on the nature of sin.

Kiri Te Kanawa is passionately unrestrained, she stalks the monster, warns the potential victims...and loves him till the final pyrotechnics. I suspect well after that too.

Donna Anna cradles her purity so fervently that you begin to suspect that such fervor is meant to fight the temptation that is equally strong.

Don Ottavio is corpulent and not very brave - his self-inflammatory singing warms him up for the task ahead. And he looks funny when informed that after all these trials the physical consumation of his love is postponed for a whole year!

The rest of the singers are also the perfect match - except maybe Theresa Berganza's Zerlina, who is lamely coquettish and unconvincing.

The production was filmed in Vicenza, the villas, the canals and gardens combine in a world of beauty. And very laconical, truly classic beauty that is. No dusty curtains of theater - just marble, sky and greenery.

That production is terribly underrated, it does not occupy the place it deserves - the DVD is a must, but there is still no disc, while a host of mediocre opera films has already got their tickets to eternity.

I cannot say enough about this video. I would give it more than five stars if I could. It is the best imaginable performance of Don Giovanni. The film is extremely rich visually: the setting (in the Palladian villas of Vicenza) is splendid and the costumes beautiful. The acting is as good as or better than in any straight film. Losey's production is carefully thought out down to the last detail; I find something new to delight in every time I watch it. But all this would be nothing were it not for the singing. No other recording of Don Giovanni can rival this one. Teresa Berganza is a sympathetic and engaging Zerlina. Kiri Te Kanawa, with her incomparably lovely voice, is magnificent as Elvira, one of the great interpreters of this role. The crowning glory of the film is the Don Giovanni of Ruggero Raimondi. He is indescribable, the perfect Don Giovanni; next to him, all others are as nothing. Listening to and watching him is a glorious experience. I highly encourage any lover of this opera to purchase not only this video but the CD soundtrack (CBS Records); both have provided me with endless joy.

Joseph Losey, director of the movie The Servant, filmed this version of Mozart's opera Don Gioavanni, regarded by many critics to be his best opera. Losey was beginning the trend that would continue with the Zefferelli movie version of La Traviata. This "opera movie" was intended not only for the enlightened and sophisticated opera lover familiar with the famous opera, but for newbies. Like Zefferelli with his Traviata, Losey hoped to "convert" non-opera fans into fans of the medium through the seduction of visual cinema. The movie is gorgeous and has many fine moments as far as cinematography. It was filmed on location in Venice and the countryside of Italy with plenty of opulent vistas of canals, gondolas and green fertile landscapes crowned with Italian villas and palaces. On DVD, you get extra trailers among them the 1968 musical "Oliver" and the 1995 "Madame Butterfly".

The movie begins with a strange cryptic message and over the credits are bizarre drawings. A lot of great dramatic moments and scenes, such as the end to Act 1 in which the people at the party denounce Don Giovanni for his evil deeds and God sends thunder to express his anger. The scene with the Commandatore statue coming to dinner was the only thing that went wrong with an otherwise fabulous film. The statue is a claymation model and is very ineffective visually, not even frightening or threatening. It's really very funny where it should be scary. The principal singers are all great though. Raimondi is a perfect Don Giovanni vocally speaking. He has the bravado and the right kind of baritone voice. But I feel he looks to feminine and he is not at all the rugged, masculine, seductive testerone-filled predator he really ought to be. Jose Van Dam is the funny servant Leporello and he's doing a terrific performance. There is another servant following the Don, a mysterious young man who looks creepy and is never identified. He didn't even look frightened when the Commandatore statue came to dinner. Riegel is Don Ottavio and is doing a fine job for a dramatic and lyric tenor.

The women in this movie must be what really makes it a beautiful opera. Donna Anna is sung by the dramatic soprano Edda Moser. She makes the best Donna Anna on record. This movie is really to her credit for that role in which she portrays anguish, intensity and grief for the loss of her father. Dona Elvira is sung by the long time Mozart soprano Dame Kiri Te Kenawa in what must be her greatest performance. Her Elvira is beautiful to hear but she acts the part to great success, hilarious, vengeful, spirited. Teresa Berganza, a Spanish mezzo soprano singss the role of Zerlina in a lyric soprano stray for her. Her Zerlina is earthy, lusty and flirtatious. The movie even offers her brief nude scenes as she changes clothes during the Serenade when the Don is by her window. Visually this movie is great to look at. The only real problem is the Commandatore Dinner Scene, which is a pity because it could have been better. They could have had a real actor in heavy make up as the Statue. A fine film with great singer-actors and quite revolutionary for 1979.

This Don Giovanni is not the worst, and it's not the best. But it's about as close as one can get to the top of the list without actually being there. Ruggero Raimondi is a great baritone and too often overlooked (his signature role is Scarpia). His Don Giovanni is given both a fantastic voice, full of expression, and a fantastic actor to back it up. The "Donnas" both shine, and their performance alone is worth the price of this DVD.
The sound is difficult to deal with--the balance between singers, etc.
The filming aspects--cinematography, lighting, sets (oh, the sets!) are all very well done, and the work is as much a success as an opera as it is as a film.
My only beef is with Malcolm King's Masetto, which is horribly overdone (and, at least for me, the character whose lip-synching was the most obvious, as everyone else seemed to disguise it well).
My advice: buy it.

The new DVD release of this Mozart masterpiece has been considerably improved over the VHS and laserdisc versions. The picture which has an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 has been digitally remastered and the improvements are readily apparent. The yellow subtitles (in six languages including English) are now much more legible.
In previous versions of this opera, especially the laserdisc, the quality of the audio was very poor indeed -- in particular, the distortion of much of the singing was terrible throughout. Unfortunately, the audio in the new DVD edition is still flawed to some degree. For most of the first half of the opera the ambience of the singing is unnatural and far too distant. The singers sound as if they were in cavernous recording studio. Fortunately, in the last half the situation improves and the singing matches the video much more realistically. The orchestra sounds fine throughout and Maazel conducts with a marked dramatic intensity. There is no 2-channel PCM audio track and the Dolby Surround which is present is not that great.
I consider this to be the most exciting and powerful video version of this opera, notwithstanding the problems outlined above. Compared to the other DVD versions filmed on a stage this one is vastly superior because in part of the magnificent atmospheric settings offered by Vincenza and the superlative singing.