Grand opera on film is inevitably a different experience from live performance.
Camera close-ups allow character concentration and surtitles explain the libretto: missing is the tension of reality and atmosphere of the auditorium.
But Ropetackle’s Opera Evenings, with long picnic interval, are a stylish compromise by Eric Thompson who introduces the works and announces programme details.
Don Giovanni was the sixth opera in the series and the first by Mozart.
The French film of the Glyndebourne 2010 production included singers Gerald Finley, Kate Royal and William Burden – the Orchestra Of The Age Of The Enlightenment was conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.
Jonathan Kent’s vaguely modern staging featured a curious revolving set with jagged building and steep raked angles under which villains, heroes and distressed maidens sheltered in shadow.
Delicious updates included a Roberts radio playing the Don’s dinner music and permanent Polaroid props.
The social mores of the 1950s sat uneasily among masked revellers and 18th century class distinctions, a situation to some extent saved by the sparkling performances of Anna Virovlansky as a Marilyn Zerlina and a suave black- tie Giovanni but, essentially, nothing distracts very much from a sublime score and matchless drama.
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