18.03.2013
Mikhail Tatarnikov Presents Don Giovanni
Our tradition of presenting outstanding operas in concert continues on 16 and 17 April with a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, conducted by Mikhail Tatarnikov. This opera, composed by Mozart with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, is acknowledged as one of the finest works in the operatic repertoire. At least, such was the opinion of Gioachino Rossini, Charles Gounod and Richard Wagner. In Tchaikovsky’s words, Don Giovanni is “full of superlative beauty and dramatic truth. The tunes are especially charmingly graceful. The harmony is sumptuously rich, yet at the same time uncomplicated”.
Mikhail Tatarnikov says of his perception of Mozart’s work and the nuances of the upcoming concert production, “The famous conductor Carlo Maria Guilini used to say, ‘You have to approach Mozart with clean hands.’ It is difficult for me to articulate all the shades of meaning that I find in this statement, which has become a cliché, but I do feel its fundamental truth and try to stay faithful to it in my work. Even though I have four Mozart operas in my repertoire and receive regular invitations to conduct them in opera houses across Europe, to me Mozart is very complex, and each production of his work is a considerable responsibility. When you take on Mozart, it is as though you are completely exposed and one-on-one with sublime music. And there is no hiding behind emotion or rubato. Mozart is a composer of great genius, and it is not good enough to ‘perform his music well’. It calls for something much bigger.
Amongst Mozart’s masterpieces, Don Giovanni stands out as something special in terms of its poignant drama, its development, and the complex ambiguity of the events. There are so many contradictory relationships and layers, such depth! Classified as a ‘comic opera’ by the author, its character is anything but light and simple, the two versions of the finale adding another challenging aspect to the piece. To this day, musicologists still disagree about what exactly happened: the finale initially presented at the premiere in Prague was expanded and altered for the premiere in Vienna. We will perform the Prague version. I consider this to be the only right decision.
I think that, for our company, turning to Mozart is vital. It so happens that we don’t have any of his compositions in our repertoire at present. And it is best to start with the concert production, as this allows for a higher-quality interpretation of the musical text. After working with Britten, which our orchestra handled with precision and professionalism, I believe in the abilities of our musicians and vocalists. And this production will primarily feature our soloists. The rehearsals are in full swing; I would say ‘we’re cooking’. I hope that we will follow the concert performance with a staged version. That would be tremendous, because acoustically and stylistically, Mozart is extremely well suited to the Mikhailovsky.”
Mikhail Tatarnikov says of his perception of Mozart’s work and the nuances of the upcoming concert production, “The famous conductor Carlo Maria Guilini used to say, ‘You have to approach Mozart with clean hands.’ It is difficult for me to articulate all the shades of meaning that I find in this statement, which has become a cliché, but I do feel its fundamental truth and try to stay faithful to it in my work. Even though I have four Mozart operas in my repertoire and receive regular invitations to conduct them in opera houses across Europe, to me Mozart is very complex, and each production of his work is a considerable responsibility. When you take on Mozart, it is as though you are completely exposed and one-on-one with sublime music. And there is no hiding behind emotion or rubato. Mozart is a composer of great genius, and it is not good enough to ‘perform his music well’. It calls for something much bigger.
Amongst Mozart’s masterpieces, Don Giovanni stands out as something special in terms of its poignant drama, its development, and the complex ambiguity of the events. There are so many contradictory relationships and layers, such depth! Classified as a ‘comic opera’ by the author, its character is anything but light and simple, the two versions of the finale adding another challenging aspect to the piece. To this day, musicologists still disagree about what exactly happened: the finale initially presented at the premiere in Prague was expanded and altered for the premiere in Vienna. We will perform the Prague version. I consider this to be the only right decision.
I think that, for our company, turning to Mozart is vital. It so happens that we don’t have any of his compositions in our repertoire at present. And it is best to start with the concert production, as this allows for a higher-quality interpretation of the musical text. After working with Britten, which our orchestra handled with precision and professionalism, I believe in the abilities of our musicians and vocalists. And this production will primarily feature our soloists. The rehearsals are in full swing; I would say ‘we’re cooking’. I hope that we will follow the concert performance with a staged version. That would be tremendous, because acoustically and stylistically, Mozart is extremely well suited to the Mikhailovsky.”
