iovanni is being taken to hell, Leporello is singing come mi fa terror , mi fa terror which translates into , I shall die of fright. The video version didnt convince me of that fear. I also thought the video Leporellos triplet sounded out of time. I dont now if this was done on purpose, but I actually thought it helped get the babbling of Leporello across. Overall I thought the live performance was better , but there were a few things I really liked about the video version. Most of the better qualities dealt with the Commendatore. I thought John Macurdys singing was more appropriate. In particular I liked his use of vibrato. He was very hesitant to let it get too wide. Instead he used a more straight voice. I just thought it helped him sound bigger and more ominous. The singer in the live version used a more active vibrato. It was good , but it made him sound like Don Giovanni. I felt the video Commendatore made a better effort to sound like a powerful spirit. I didnt feel threatened enough by the live versions Commendatore. I also liked the way the orchestra presented the Commendatore. When the Commendatore appears at measure 433 there are two huge loud diminished chords. (ex 10) In the live version the conductor ,Bernard Haitink , plows through those chords a little too quickly. On the other hand , Lorin Maazel , the video conductor , takes his time there. It almost sounds like he put in a fermata. I thought it sounded a bit more scary out of tempo. This is just my opinion though. Both performances were very good. The above thoughts are about a very complex piece of music. The fact that it appears to be simple , is a result of the genius of Mozart and his incredibly ability to write music. This opera works so well because Mozart made it so accessible to regular people. He achieved this simplicity through his meticulous detail to each characters personality. He made sure that Don Giovanni sounded like he ...
