A ladies’ man with a hint of danger
IF DON Giovanni were around today, the #MeToo movement would be in full cry after him. As a somewhat confused lady once said at Glyndebourne, ‘ he sounds like a regular Don Juan’.
Portraying him needs a singer with more than a whiff of danger, and Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien not only looks like a seducer but sings like one, with a handsome tone and a way of making the stage his own.
As his sidekick Leporello, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo has a fine voice and looks very droll but does not sound funny enough. Some of us remember singers such as Geraint Evans or Sesto Bruscantini who could shade their tone and point phrases more wittily.
American soprano Rachel Willis- Sørensen has been impressing Covent Garden audiences since 2012 but even so, her Donna Anna is something of a revelation. Tall and stately, she sings this difficult role with terrific dramatic flair and a magnificent voice.
As the other wronged woman Donna Elvira, Hrachuhi Bassenz from Armenia also sings splendidly: an early touch of shrillness wears off as the evening goes on and she brings real feeling to her arias.
Making her debut as Zerlina is Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, who has all the necessary charm and sings delightfully. As her fiancé Masetto, Anatoli Sivko from Belarus is a bit of a stick and is not improved by a very ill-fitting costume.
The top and bottom of the male range are represented by Slovak tenor Pavol Breslik, a likeable Don Ottavio who sings beautifully, and our old friend Sir Willard White as a sonorous Commendatore.
Kasper Holten’s production has inspired moments but you get sick of the set, with its constant revolutions and stairs: will he get to the top in time? Will she get downstairs without falling head over heels?
The ending is a cop-out and we are deprived of Mozart’s final sextet. But Marc Minkowski conducts stylishly, getting good results from both chorus and orchestra — a special bouquet to the solo cellist.