Simply, the best Tosca on video!!
I have 20 dvd's of Puccini's Tosca- most official releases and a few bootlegs (telecasts never released on video). They range from the 1950's to this latest release from 2011. And THIS one is the best of them all. The combination of all-star cast, terrific traditional staging and sets, and superb sound and video make this a must have for any opera fan. This is the one to get and watch again and again.
Let me start with the cast:
Angela Gheorghiu- I see from comments on this and other websites that she is a controversial soprano. You either love her or you hate her. Put me in the big fan category. I've loved her from her major debut in Covent Garden's "Traviata" (still the one to get). I am a huge fan of her voice. It has a hooded tone that to me is very appealing. (Although I can't exactly describe it, I'd call it the exact opposite of shrill.) She soars and emotes, an all with perfect pitch. She's still very beautiful (important in this role). And, as she...
The best Tosca ever
This all-star production is absolutely the best there is. I've seen Tosca many times, the first one in 1964 at the old Met with Renata Tebaldi, Tito Gobbi and Franco Corelli. I own three DVDs, two with Domingo. I can clearly say this one outdoes them all. I could watch it again and again, it was that good. I just showed it to my opera group and the reviews couldn't be higher. It's really a hard act to follow.
What makes this Covent Garden production so good are the quality of the singers and Jonathan Kent's brilliant stage direction. You have an all-star cast. Angela Georghiu is the ultimate diva. She really is into her role and sings and acts beautifully. Jonas Kaufmann, who is really a Wagnerian heldentenor, handles the lighter Italian role of Cavaradossi with incredible sensitivity, and is able to tame the hugeness of his voice with genuine warmth and beauty. Bryn Terfel, who I really never liked as Wotan in Wagner's Ring or Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust, brings the...
Fine production, but not quite a home run
I have seen many Tosca productions and performed in a couple myself. This production, generally, is very good. The set design and consumes are classic and the lighting evokes the dark tones of the story even in the lighter moments. The atmosphere is heavy and oppressive as would be expected for Rome in thatbera. Tosca's constumes resemble those often seen in productions of " War and Peace" on film and the costumes of the men could apply to multiple eras.
Vocally, this is a mixed bag. Angela Gheorghiu has never been my favorite soprano. She is often harsh in her register transitions and her color is sometime smokey. But here, she seems well suited for the role in this size theater. Her register passagioes work for the anxiety of the jealous woman, and her sometime stiff presentation complements the narsicistic nature of the street singer. She handles "Vissi d'arte" very well and her posing of Scarpia's body in act two is done with real grace adding to the...
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