Mozart: Don Giovanni / Mackerras, Keenlyside, DiDonato, Poplavskaya

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on 8 and 12 September 2008. Bonus features: - Illustrated synopsis and cast gallery - Into the Royal Opera House - Backstage Tour Picture format: NTSC 16:9 Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 (all regions) Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian Running time: 202 mins R E V I E W S: During the overture the characters and their interpreters are presented against a backdrop of violent flames, almost all the characters showing stern or grim faces and we draw the conclusion that in this production hell is the unavoidable end from the outset and that librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s billing ‘dramma giocoso’ was more apt than Mozart’s plain ‘opera buffa’. No valid production of this work is played as downright ‘opera buffa’ however, since there is so much of serious ‘dramma’ as well as a fair share of the supernatural. It isn’t even correct to divide the characters in comic and serious c