A reliance on striking visuality may be a resource that contemporary set designers use to convey narrative meanings in otherwise staid operatic works. But with Don Giovanni the challenge tends to be what elements of staging best aid the narrative flow and if a reinterpretation of the action is required to make the result more relevant to the contemporary audience.
In interviews Kasper Holten has said that the duplex, graphically energised chiaroscuro set is a metaphor for the complex psyche of Don Giovanni. It is an interesting proposition and as a theatrical piece this production works well with the mis-en-scène, including Es Devlin’s set in slow carousel movement and Luke Halls’ mapping projection charting the fall of this sexually insatiable amnesiac.
There are sublime moments in the production, which at times can be visually overwhelming, that offer insight into the demise of the protagonist. Ghostly writing conjures itself onto every available surface, listing those unfortunates seduced by Don Giovanni in a graffiti which, while alluding to Leporello’s Catalogue aria, forms part of the permanent backdrop to the action. With “Fin ch’han dal vino” we have displayed a stunning Escheresque mapping onto the set, manuscript and stairways spiralling downward – a clear metaphor of the protagonist’s descent into the abyss, with him clutching open a first floor doorframe, a fixed stare directed at the audience, inviting us to participate in his profligate party planning. A prescient Commendatore silently enters and exits throughout the action with mysterious statuesque female figures, an obvious reference to past victims, giving us the sensation of fatality as an undercurrent.
Don Giovanni’s last mortal day is to be lived with his usual predatory gusto and the inevitable tangles this brings, but with the dinner scene and ending converting him into a man in the state of mental breakdown where his fevered imagination takes over reality. Loneliness and madness itself is the real damnation. In the curtailed closing with the moral fugue from the pit, Holten suggests the fate of being forsaken and left alone with your paranoia is worse than hell.
The Liceu’s Orchestra has improved noticeably over recent years, with conductor Josep Pons leading the way. His conducting was tight and intense, with a clear appreciation of dynamics and musical details. The string section produced a superb velvet tone with the woodwind and brass noted for clarity, expression and quality. The chorus has a minor part in this work, but sang competently in their two brief interventions.
The voice casting was largely homogeneous and in character for this opera, with some outstanding individual performances. All concertantes were extremely well executed, precise and in tune. Clear evidence of great preparation. Don Giovanni was played by Mariusz Kwiecień, who is developing a reputation as a solid performer in the role. He worked well as a convincing actor and sang the part with both good voice projection and clear diction. He skilfully portrayed the psychological decline of the protagonist from the outset.