Don Giovanni

I don't think I can add to what has been said(and so well) already but I will try my best. This is my favourite version of Don Giovanni, both sumptuous and dramatic and does justice to a wonderful, complex opera that is quite possibly Mozart's most complex and dramatic.

The music is just wonderful. From the dark and dramatic overture, to the champagne aria to the duet between Giovanni and Donna Elvira and of course the final scene with the Commendatore which here was superbly done, it is a choc-a-block of some of the finest music in opera history.

Joseph Losey's direction is well handled and secure and isn't overwhelmed by the complexity of the story. And of course this version is sumptuously filmed, with exquisite costumes, settings and scenery, undoubtedly one of the most gorgeously filmed film operas to be put on film.

And the performances are excellent, with a superb Ruggero Raimondi, making Giovanni handsome, graceful and charming, yet sinister, devilish and seductive, and a genuinely imposing John Macurdy as the Commendatore. Jose Van Dam stays true to Mozart's concept of Leporello, Edda Mosser is a lovely Donna Anna, Kiri TeKanawa is a fiery Donna Elvira and Teresa Berganza is an adorable Zerlina.

Overall, wonderful, sumptuous, complex and dramatic. 10/10 Bethany Cox