Product: Mozart: Don Giovanni (1977 Glyndbourne Festival Opera) [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
A VERY GOOD BUT DATED PRODUCTION & CAST
To be blunt this is a safe but far from brilliant performance. The Black and White film shows it age. Even the Sonics show there age. There are many times when the balance is off; and I specifically mean the singers totally drown out the magnificent orchestrations. The singers all make lovely sounds; but, that is one of the problems. They are not vocally or dramatically into their roles with one or two exceptions. The first being Mario Petri. He is always dramatically alert and acts and sings with much beauty and nuance. He is one of those GREAT DONS. Luigi Alva is also a vocal asset and presence. I even like Graziella Scuitti's Zerlina and I have often in the past found her voice too small and fluttery. She sounds, looks and acts wonderful. Leporello and Masetto are also better than just fine. Well this leaves the two ladies. Both Teresa Stich-Randall and Leyla Gencer sing beautifully; but that's just it. Neither is dramatically involved. They just sing and sing wonderfully. There is no fire or anger in their vocal makeup in these performances. "Non Mi Dir" is all sung in a lovely modulated tone and there is no variance of that lovely tone. I must admit I have been spoiled by two or three fantastic performances of this GREAT MOZART OPERA.One being Leontyne Price at the MET. She went through every dynamic possible and every emotion possible and unleashed gigantic waves of emotion and gorgeous sound. Then after convincing us she was almost raped she lets out a cry for vengeance for her father's murder at frightening masses of furious sound; yet still rich and focused. She then proceeded to float one beautiful lyric phrase after another for the remainder of the evening! However' before that think of Niagara Falls at full flood. I love Stich-Randall's sound but she is too monochromatic for Donna Anna. I'm a new fan of Leyla Gencer. I generally find her very dramatically involved. I find her Donna Elvira too subdued. She is just too pale a presence when compared to Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. I think I blame this all on the stage director; both, for her and Stich-Randall. The conducting is good but not of the highest inspiration. Again, SAFE! I'll watch again; but, not often.