Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
Tosca - melodramma in three acts
Karine Babajanyan (Tosca) Piotr Beczala (Cavaradossi), Carlos Álvarez (Scarpia) Sorin Coliban (Angelotti) Alexandru Moisic (Sacristan) Wolfram Igor Derntl (Spoleta) Hans Peter Kammerer (Sciaronne) Ayk Martirossian (Gaoler) Maryam Tahon (Shepherd Boy)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera/Marco Armiliato
Stage Director: Margarethe Wallmann
Sets and Costumes: Nicola Benois
Picture 1080i 16:9, Sound PCM stereo and DTS HD MA 5.0
Subtitles: Italian (original language), English, German, French, Korean,
Japanese
rec. live, 23 June 2019, Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna
Reviewed in surround sound
C MAJOR 759204 Blu-ray [129 mins]
This is a historic staging of Tosca, first seen in Vienna in 1958 when it was conducted by Herbert von Karajan, with Renata Tebaldi and Tito Gobbi. Margarethe Wallmann’s faithful and traditional work stands the test of time, as do Nicola Benois’ sets and costumes. I am not sure if you can really see the dome of St. Peter’s so close to the Castel Sant’Angelo as shown in Act 3, but historic locations are certainly evoked. For one critic of a more recent revival this production is less historic than “pre-historic”, which is a strange observation of a work frequently revived and well attended, the lifeblood of many an opera company. It stands up well even now. The Act One Te Deum – the work’s best scene perhaps - has plenty of colour, with its Swiss Guards, incense, candles and parading clergy, altar boys and congregation, making a painter’s composition within the frame of Nicola Benois’ design for the Sant’Andrea della Valle chapel. Scarpia’s chamber in the Palazzo Farnese is grand but not too rich. I prefer Scarpia, basically a policeman if a very senior one, hardworking enough to please his superiors no doubt, to have something like an office with a desk, as here. (The fact that he has a torture chamber next door is no doubt an essential arrangement for his oppressive regime.)
Piotr Beczała was making his role debut as Cavaradossi, according to a press quote. He sings extremely well, bringing familiar qualities of tone and technique to a dramatic and sympathetic account of the role. His despairing Act Three aria ”E lucevan le stele” was very well sung and received with many cheers, though it was still a mild and not unpleasant surprise when he immediately sang it again! (Not perhaps something you would wish to hear done every time you play the disc perhaps). He is in ringing form welcoming the news of Marengo with his “Vittoria”. No attempt to hide his Republican sentiments!
Karine Babajanyan sings Floria Tosca, making her house debut at the Staatsoper. She is doing this relatively late in her career it might seem, or so some cruel close-ups suggest. But her tenor is not so young either, and Tosca is referred to in the libretto as beautiful but never as young, so far as I recall. But this is a curse of filmed opera, as a veteran’s skills and experience are needed in lead roles in many cases. Her voice, basically very attractive in timbre, is not always ideally steady in the climactic phrases of the big numbers. But Babajanyan sings well elsewhere, and in her many softer moments she is affecting, as in her tearful Act One reaction to Scarpia’s insinuations.
Baron Scarpia himself is Carlos Álvarez, who acts and sings with the appalling conviction required of his character, relishing the imminent conquest he imagines, snarling with the best, or rather the worst, of them. He manages to be heard over the holy din of the Te Deum, and is menacing indeed in his sadistic torment of Tosca in Act Two. Sorin Coliban’s Angelotti and Alexandru Moisic’s Sacristan make effective contributions, and Marco Armiliato conducts with the feeling for pace and tension essential for the score. He has the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera of course, who play as well as we expect. It is a nice touch by video director Ella Gallieni that the first bars of Act Three show just the four horns playing in unison their version of the exultant theme later sung by the two lovers. Four horns, but they play as one, even down to the gruppetto near the end. The Blu-ray picture and surround sound are both very good.
So a fine representative account of Puccini’s opera overall, preserving a famous production on film. It is inferior to the another fine production on Blu-ray however, the one filmed for Opus Arte in 2011 of Jonathan Kent’s production for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. That too is set in a realistic early 19th century Rome, and has a quite outstanding cast, superior to this one. Ten years ago Jonas Kauffman, Angela Gheorghiu, and Bryn Terfel were hard to better as Cavaradossi, Tosca and Scarpia, and Antonio Pappano is a magnificent Puccini conductor.
Roy Westbrook
