Set by Joy Hosker Inspired by the Royal Opera House's offer of 2,200 seats for a single performance of Don Giovanni to Sun readers, so that the opera reaches "an audience of new faces", we asked you to send in examples of conversations overheard during the interval in the Crush Bar

Report by Ms de Meaner

Much harder than you thought "avoiding the usual stereotypes", non? So, well done those who made it to the page. £20 to each of the two main winners. £5 book tokens to the shorties. The Tesco vouchers go to John Ekroy, the overall winner. Hon menshes to Adrian Fry, Phyllis O'Fickell and Godfrey M Holmes.

Get that tessitura!

- The tessitura weren't implacable enough to convey the tension in the quartet, innit?

- Yeah, whatever, but he held back on the diminuendi, right? Balanced the structure within the stave . . .

- Well, that's my point, within the stave. Course. But Keenlyside's upper registers succumbed to vibrato -

- Come off it, what about Schrott's cloying appoggiaturas then?

- Nah, but Villazón . . .

- Villazón?! No balance at all between the presto and the rallentandi in the minuet. René Pape in the Munich 2006 production . . .

- Pape has very loose rubato in the "La Ci Darem". And Pappano would never have countenanced the Mackerras tempi. As for Poplavskaya! Get a load of that vocal line, eh? The way she can shape an ostinato . . .

Josh Ekroy

Soaraway coloratura

- Nah, didn't get me going so far, darlin'.

- Well, nice soaraway coloratura from that Martinez.

- It was more the mise en scène I was gettin' at. Relentless images of Catholic guilt - a bit obvious, innit?

- True, but that Erwin Schrott . . . !

- Yeah, he so put over the conflicts between desire, morality and reason at the very 'eart of the libretto.

- He's probably the most completely realised Don G ever. And he's got a sostenuto you could eat your dinner off!

- But the recitatives! Completely lost the irony . . .

- Old Chaz Mackerras balanced the score impeccable, though.

- Well, a bit rough in the ensemble, weren't it?

- I'll give you that. Next week, let's see if Bluebeard's Castle can up the ante . . .

Keith Mason

Critical eye

- . . . yes, I've just been appointed opera critic of the Sun. We're doing a page-four spread on it tomorrow. And we'll be giving away a CD, Great Opera Arias, on Monday.

John O'Byrne

What a surprise

Sarah! Clive! This is a surprise. We certainly didn't have you down as Sun readers, did we, Max?

Keith Norman

Eye-opener

Stone me! That's opened my eyes!

G M Davis

No 4045 Just a sporting chance

Set by Joy Hosker

In the London Olympics of 1908 Great Britain won 146 medals (56 of which were gold), largely by excelling at sports no other, or only a few, countries played and whose rules they did not know - for instance, rackets and water motorsports made their first and last appearance at the 1908 Games. We want more such sports, please, with the particular skills required, not forgetting their rules, to boost our medals tally at London 2012.

Max five sports by 11 September

Email: comp@newstatesman.co.uk

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website