Search - Mozart - Don Giovanni / Bestschastny, Jedlicka, Petrenko, Mackerras, Prague Opera on DVD

Nice production with unkonwn singers

Jorge Fernandez Baca | Lima, Peru | 04/03/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good production which deserves to be appreciated by all Don Giovanni lovers. Its most special attractive is the fact of being presented at the same scenario where Mozart conducted the premiere on October 1787.The orchestra sounds remarkably well under Mackerras' conduction. The costumes are also impresive and seem to be taken from the very same Prague's premiere, specially the clothes used by Donna Anna, Donna Elvira and Don Octavio at Don Giovanni's palace, at the end of the first act. Unfortunaley, the singers are not first class, with the exemption of Nadezha Petrenko and Alice Pandová, who play Donna Anna and Zerlina, respectively. Andrei Bestchotny acts quite well as Don Giovanni and has a nice voice,but he fails in the high notes, specially in Deh vieni a la finestra. Irina Marková (Donna Elvira) skips the most difficult aria for her role: In quali eccesi.

From a technical point of view, we must recognize that the sound and image of the DVD are quite good.It is a pity, however, that you can't skip from one song to another, only from the first to the second act and viceversa."