ans interpret and express what Mozart and da Ponte created. The two productions of Don Giovanni in comparison are The Glyndebourne Summer Opera Festival video and the Opera Film Dramma giocoso by Joseph Losey. The two different productions are very good , but they definetly have their own opinions regarding many aspects of the opera. The first major difference was obviously the method of performance. The Glyndenbourne version was live and the Losey version was video with lip-synching. I felt that neither medium was better then the other. I place the integrity of each version in the hands of the performers. Which had the best singersThe singer who performed Don Giovanni was much better in the live version. Ruggero Raimondi of the video version gave a very good what's on the page performance. It was correct and nothing bothered me. On the other hand , Benjamin Luxon of the live version , went beyond what's on the page. I really felt like Don Giovanni was on the stage rather then some singer being Don Giovanni. He changed his voice and is so much more emotional then the video Giovanni. The video Giovanni keeps the same exact voice color for most of the scene. I never heard it change. The live Giovanni was constantly changing like an emotional person would. An example of this occurs when he takes the Commendatores icy hand. He lets us know that Giovannis confidence is frozen and shattered by that icy grip. The video Giovanni reacts as if he touched a cold soda. I also had the same feeling towards the singers who portrayed Leporello. Stafford Dean of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera performed Leporello amazingly. I think he was the best out of all the performers at capturing the true spirit of Leporello. He seemed much more scared then Jos van Dam of the video version. I thought that the video Leporello seemed almost too confident at times. He didnt give true justice to the fear Leporello actually had. When Don G...
