tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post7432346475086279698..comments2023-12-27T09:38:56.562+01:00Comments on Opera Cake: Dima Tcherniakov created the finest Don Giovanni in businessOpera Cakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-34677582951077181582013-02-15T19:35:19.075+01:002013-02-15T19:35:19.075+01:00Thanks, Kyle, for the heads-up. Hopefully someone ...Thanks, Kyle, for the heads-up. Hopefully someone will broadcast/webcast it again. <br />Thanks, Opera Cake for this great overview, and thanks to commenters for the excellent discussion. <br /><br />I came to this post via a typical web search trail. I saw David Bižić in the ROH Boheme, then looked for more from him on YT, then I found he was Masetto in this Don G. I wanted to know more about the production, and that led me to your blog. Your post has been very informative, and I can't wait for an opportunity to see this production! Any production that creates this much controversy becomes a must-see for me. <br /><br />Thanks!<br />RobRobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16322512607114908183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-48744543653123511272013-01-07T16:36:05.108+01:002013-01-07T16:36:05.108+01:00Catch this production again in Madrid & Aix TH...Catch this production again in Madrid & Aix THIS year!!<br /><br />- Kyle Ketelsen (taking that wig outta storage)<br /> www.kylek.netKyle Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03081798259136531649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-54948343545212582872012-10-11T22:54:51.729+02:002012-10-11T22:54:51.729+02:00I post two years later, sorry.
I loved it... and I...I post two years later, sorry.<br />I loved it... and I am glad to read other people who did...! I cannot say it is the best work I ever saw, it just felt right to me, as some other operas do. My favourite is Platée by Laurent Pelly, but it is personal. As long as it is made lively and consistent, whichever choice is made, I appreciate. The diversity of approaches is a pleasure itself too. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-32666407174969783492010-11-02T10:08:59.440+01:002010-11-02T10:08:59.440+01:00I'm glad to learn that :)
Thanks for sharing...I'm glad to learn that :) <br /><br />Thanks for sharing.Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-28931041502241355592010-11-01T23:33:17.454+01:002010-11-01T23:33:17.454+01:00i just saw the revival of this production at the B...i just saw the revival of this production at the Bolshoi Opera last week,with Tiliakos,Loconsolo,Gritton,Gioieva,Balzer,Avemo<br />it was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />just unforgettable production and singers!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-51996130045703193662010-07-20T12:36:01.076+02:002010-07-20T12:36:01.076+02:00Thanks :)
Good point!
I think Don Ottavio admi...Thanks :) <br /><br />Good point!<br /><br /><br />I think Don Ottavio admires Don Giovanni, for being everything he isn't and he too despised the old man and now when he knows that it was Don Giovanni who killed him, Don Ottavio's admiration gears up to level-2 and he feels sexually attracted to him. I think THAT's the moment when Don Ottavio becomes bi-curious. At the party he does what Don Giovanni asked Donna Anna to do (to kiss Masetto). <br /><br />Of course, they are all unhappy people. Their desires and true emotions are suppressed and they accept to live like hypocrites -- how can you be happy living like that?! <br /><br />The major question that remains to be uncoded is: why do they really decide to kil Don Giovanni at the end? OK, they all feel betrayed, but it goes farther than that... <br /> <br />As for Eugene Onegin, I saw that production a couple of years ago when it opened the season in Paris. That also is a very intimate show and quite different from what you usually see (no kitch, no ballroom dances, no duel and no snow; looks cozy and genuinely Russian). The same production closed the season 2008-2009 in La Scala and many operagoers loved it. btw, it's been released on<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovsky-Eugene-Onegin-Dmitri-Tcherniakov/dp/B001UHLPG0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1279621959&sr=8-3" rel="nofollow"> DVD</a>.Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-81654440214242601122010-07-20T01:12:33.085+02:002010-07-20T01:12:33.085+02:00Just seen Act 1 on arte---and as you say, it's...Just seen Act 1 on arte---and as you say, it's genius. About the kissing at the party, I think Don G is so miserable he creates this siutation where they can all give up their identities, and so when he gets them to kiss each other, it's not logical at all, they're just freeing up at last (and Don O turns out to be a bit bi-curious). Then Zerlina gets jealous and breaks the illusion. So I think, rather than all the characters being unsympathetic to DT, they're just unhappy people, understandably failing to really solve their problems--Don G's situation is that of all of them, it's not really that he's manipulating them. Still, will look out for similarities at his Onegin at ROH. Thanks for a great (and helpful) review as ever, and for being the single most vocal advocate for this stuff out there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-20747299874399400132010-07-18T20:51:22.486+02:002010-07-18T20:51:22.486+02:00I'm still hung up on this Don Giovanni :-)
T...I'm still hung up on this Don Giovanni :-) <br /><br />The first scene is with Don Giovanni dressing up in a hurry while leaving the room of Donna Anna's and she bags him to stay... They actually didn't make love and her desire for him becomes unbearable... That's very plausible interpretation too, innit :)Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-9473912640949034492010-07-15T09:58:07.379+02:002010-07-15T09:58:07.379+02:00Nah Charlotte! ;)
Sensitive or insensitive, it&#...Nah Charlotte! ;) <br /><br />Sensitive or insensitive, it's not the holy Bible that Tcherniakov was modifying. Give him a chance ;) <br /><br />He wanted to emphasize that they are related, they are all a big family and the deatures you see in each of the character is just a piece in a bigger picture - which then gives this drama also sociological character (wealthy family with stiff moral principles not living up to them - broader sense of hypocrisy). Also the action is not 24 hours but more than 30 days, which makes more credible the evolution process of each of the character involved in the drama. <br /><br />I also believe Tcherniakov 'promoted' Zerlina to Donna Anna's daughter because he wanted further to stress the psychological and moral drama that's been ravaging Donna Anna throughout the first act. Furthermore, as Donna Anna's daughter, when we realize that Zerlina's not naive but a big hypocrite too, it is less surprising ["like mother like daughter"].<br /><br />Debbie above was also questioning that: what if Zerlina was Donna Elvira's daughter? I tried to run that scenario through my head too, and I think the idea might have worked as well, but the outcome would be outrageous as the story would gain the incestuous dimension...Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-63034922331567346442010-07-15T01:30:13.199+02:002010-07-15T01:30:13.199+02:00since when is
"Zerlina, Donna Anna's daug...since when is<br />"Zerlina, Donna Anna's daughter.... "<br />????<br />Why on earth would such a thing be necessary to interpolate into the story?<br />i guess this insensitive American just doesn't understand<br />CharlotteWebb212.@gmail.comUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02395385264817327594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-35016989684627076342010-07-13T18:06:10.348+02:002010-07-13T18:06:10.348+02:00Debbie, I too like Claus Guth's Don Giovanni (...Debbie, I too like Claus Guth's Don Giovanni (btw, will go and see it again next month), but that production was precisely the opposite to the Tcherniakov's show: he [Claus] followed quite literally the libretto, but transposed the action in such a way that it talks to the youngsters of our time. If you see the previous Don Giovanni in Salzburg (produced by Martin Kusej) you'll see the third stream of "regie"-way of opera producing, much less popular, often cold but eventually remarkable too. <br /><br />So, with all respect to Guth --and please keep in mind that I DO like his DonGio!-- his show somewhat looks like he had to wrap it up fast. The episodes with Zerlina stick out of the res and the story looks as if it would have flowed better if he simply ditched both Zerlina and Masetto :) <br /><br />Tcherniakov's DonGio is the opposite. He makes many departures from Da Ponte's libretto [in characters!], while keeping the decors rather classical, thus creating a drama with characters: no other distraction is present during the show. None of his characters is either postive or negative. Don Giovanni is not a monster. In the end he pays the price for being too vain a jerk, but he's definitely less hypocrite than any other of the characters in the story [except perhaps Masetto, but well he's just too dumb ;)] This way to shift the characters is very disturbing when you know the story and when you're already familiar with characters of this opera: you expect from a new director to illuminate one side or another of a known character and not to modify them and make them interact "atypically", and none is really positive or negative. Zerlina is particularly different from usual "poor victim" or weak, little, submissive... <br /><br />I like that way of putting a spin to the story but I understand many people don't. With his Carmelites in Munich it was much-much more disturbing but since much less people know Carmelites by heart than Don Giovanni, it made less fuss. He TOTALLY changed the spirit of "Salve Regina", and if you saw one (any!) production of Carmelites before, it was maddening while it lasted... but 2 days later I woke up and said it was utterly brilliant! <br /><br />I mention this to say that he'd obviously worked a lot with Nagano and singers to reduce the huge pathos in Salve Regina. That thinned the famous finale beyond recognition -- but fitted very well his twist to the story. This is why I'm surprized that you think he gets in the way of the music. I believe he influences the singers (esp. Marlis Petersen!) and the conductor as to convey more of the atmosphere/action he's been creating on the stage. They would have performed differently if it was a different production. To me that's good!<br /><br />Does he like the characters in the operas he's producing?! I get your point. Very good! Dima is very probably too cynical to see any of his characters too good or too bad, but deep down I believe he's a good man ;) <br /><br />So all in all to me this Don Giovanni is different from both Guth's and Kusej's productions but I like them all for very different reasons. Tooo loooong - I know... SorryOpera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-48619541378300186242010-07-12T14:32:08.760+02:002010-07-12T14:32:08.760+02:00Thanks for your note Debbie. Of course I'll an...Thanks for your note Debbie. Of course I'll answer (later today...)Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-42850433304329347252010-07-12T14:05:40.371+02:002010-07-12T14:05:40.371+02:00Re Onegin:
The Triquet aria is Tschaikovsky's...Re Onegin: <br />The Triquet aria is Tschaikovsky's original version, I am told on the DVD.<br />Yes, the polonaise is super!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-57979610675049741692010-07-12T12:16:16.623+02:002010-07-12T12:16:16.623+02:00Hi Opera Cake - first of all to say that the only ...Hi Opera Cake - first of all to say that the only other work by Chernyakov I am familiar with is his Onegin with the Bolshoi, which I think is mostly amazing. And if I hadn't known it was Chernyakov's DonG before watching it, I would have known within, oh, about 4 seconds... :)<br />Like you, I lean towards Regie over more old-fashioned staging, but only because when it is successful then it is for me the most perfect thing in the world. This DonG, however, I don't think worked, for a couple of reasons I spent the last few days mulling over. So here they are:<br />1) Forced sarcasm when the text gets in the way.<br />If I hadn't seen Onegin, maybe this wouldn't have been such a problem for me but both Tatyana and Leporello have lines that frankly do not fit with his version (vision?) and are therefore forced into a sarcastic vein so they can be said. I'm all for reinventing the text, but this is a pretty one-note way of doing it. And he does it A LOT in both. Which makes me wonder how right is the take when so much needs to be wedged in so clumsily…<br />2) He gets in the way of the music - and therefore I question how much the music means to him.<br />Opera is text and music -and I don't like it when the music is fucked with. In Onegin he has both Olga and Larina laughing loudly all over the waltz which is problematic to me as it is one of the most gorgeous things ever written. This is, maybe, just my taste. But breaking up the action of DonG with short-but-regular-scene-tweaking-to-show-passage-of-time I think was very destructive to the flow of the score. Particularly evident in Act3 when all action ground to a halt mostly, I think, because the conductor had NO momentum to carry through what is the most static and aria-heavy part of the opera. <br />3) Did he go too far – or not far enough?<br />Festen is an incredibly disturbing piece of theatre - as is a great Don Giovanni. However, In Festen Christian is seeing visions of his dead sister driven to suicide by serious paternal abuse – this Don Giovanni is a polemic about old-money, bourgeois, bored, European inbreds who drink their breakfast from a whiskey decanter and fuck each other to pass the time. Where is the threat, the matter in his vision? What if, for example, Zerlina was Elvira’s daughter by Don Giovanni which she never told him about? Fundamentally there is nothing happening on stage which makes me care about it, which leads me to…<br />4) He doesn’t like the operas he directs nor the characters in them<br />This is for me the crux of Onegin and DonG – both intensely dislikable characters written by composers who obviously adored them, which brings drama via sympathy. Chernyakov seems to think that Onegin is an object of ridicule (and the Act 4 polonaise is one of the most incredibly cruel and wonderful pieces of staging I have seen in opera), as is Tatyana for actually falling in love with him. He hates the mother and Olga – turning them into laughing banshees and Lensky is an idiot too – to the extent (and I LOVE this) he’ll make the tenor sing the pissy little Triquet aria. It is this dislike of everybody in the Don Gioovanni that made the Festen-quality of the staging fall flat – Who are we supposed to be feeling for?<br /><br />To finish this rather long post (and I really hope you read it and respond) I will mention that the performances were outstanding – all of them. And I won’t ever not see a Chernyakov production of anything – I have daydreams about what he would do to Elektra for example But finally, I absolutely disagree with your statement that this is the finest Don Gionanni in the business – Claus Guth’s wins hands down for me.Debbienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-59204288696306783552010-07-11T22:09:57.554+02:002010-07-11T22:09:57.554+02:00I understood you're not sensitive to this kind...I understood you're not sensitive to this kind of theater, which of course is your prerogative. Move on! ;)Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-31396833419852394712010-07-11T21:57:59.307+02:002010-07-11T21:57:59.307+02:00You misunderstand. It is not the concept of opera ...You misunderstand. It is not the concept of opera producing --- it is all the details you list above. I find them unconvincing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-63453270422221306152010-07-11T21:27:32.364+02:002010-07-11T21:27:32.364+02:00Don't worry! Herheim, my other big fave direct...Don't worry! Herheim, my other big fave director, is far more radical in terms of add-ons to the original libretto, but his shows are not simple like Tcherniakov's; they're in fact very spectacular and even the stiffest among traditionalists clap like mad :) <br /><br />Seriously, if this concept of opera producing doesn't talk to you, you can always find the classically staged production and move on. Life is short! <br /><br />CheersOpera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-39627029295513813762010-07-11T20:15:40.203+02:002010-07-11T20:15:40.203+02:00I see this phenomenon is quite frequent these days...I see this phenomenon is quite frequent these days and I fail to understand what extra value does it add to the show.<br /><br />That, I think, could be said about all of the above! My honest opinion, not out of spite. I wanted to like it, I cannot!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-50143233381292186782010-07-11T16:15:31.753+02:002010-07-11T16:15:31.753+02:00Hi Lucy! Try to mentally block your reference prod...Hi Lucy! Try to mentally block your reference productions of Don Giovanni for those 3 hours while you watch this show. Otherwise you may easily get ejected from your comfort zone, asking "Why Donna Anna wasn't raped?", "Why is Zerlina mean to Masetto, when she's supposed to be submissive?" etc, you'd then lose the thread of what's happening on the stage and you'd hate the whole experience. <br /><br />I'm not saying you'll like it. I only hope you give it a chance :) <br /><br />CheersOpera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-34284168403329153702010-07-11T14:42:33.844+02:002010-07-11T14:42:33.844+02:00Thanks for this review! I'll definitely want ...Thanks for this review! I'll definitely want to give it a look... but I'll feel better equipped to appreciate it having read your assessment.Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02549302523503271428noreply@blogger.com