Last weekend was all Mozart, all the time, with the BSO and James Levine here at Tanglewood. Friday a regular concert, Saturday Don Giovanni – in a concert performance, and the Requiem on Sunday. The Don Giovanni was marvelous, and acted very well by the singers too. This was – with one exception – a young international cast, all connected to Levine and the Met in one way or another:
Mariusz Kwiecien – Don Giovanni
Luca Pisaroni – Leporello (a last minute stand-in, he almost stole the show)
Tamar Iveri – Donna Anna (another stand-in, a wonderful voice!)
Matthew Polenzani – Don Ottavio (who got a lot of applause and press kudos, but I didn’t like the timbre of his voice very much)
Soile Isokoski – Donna Elvira (the above exception, and what a Donna Elvira she was!)
Heidi Grant Murphy – Zerlina
Patrick Carfizzi – Masetto
Morris D. Robinson – Commendatore
There was no director listed, so it is assumed that James Levine was in charge of the (minimal but effective) staging. At one point he himself got into the act by handing a folio to Leporello, who was about to begin his “catalogue aria”. “Don Giovanni” is a dramma giocoso, somewhere between opera seria and buffa, and in my opinion, the Don was bit too much buffo. Anyway, great fun was had by all! Reviews by the NYT and the Boston Globe will probably be up for a minimum of time only.
The Requiem was glorious, with another stellar cast: Soile Isokoski again, Susan Graham (who also sang an aria Friday night), Kenneth Tarver and John Relyea, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus under John Oliver, dependable as always.
Images below tweaked from very dark originals. Click to enlarge.
Before the concert: Tanglewood Festival Chorus
Requiem Cast
James Levine
Click on images for larger size
