Tosca

"In the Theater an der Wien's 2022 production, the setting is modern but the location is not specific, except that Acts One and Three take place outdoors in a snowy landscape with a parked caravan ... The setting apart ... The singing of the three leads is excellent ... Marc Albecht conducts with authority and passion. He never swamps the singers, and his tempi feel right throughout the evening. The ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien sound as idiomatic as any leading opera house orchestra".

Read review

"This is a historic staging of Tosca, first seen in Vienna in 1958 when it was conducted by Herbert von Karajan ... Margarethe Wallmann's faithful and traditional work stands the test of time, as do Nicola Benois' sets and costumes ... Piotr Beczała was making his role debut as Cavaradossi ... He sings extremely well, bringing familiar qualities of tone and technique to a dramatic and sympathetic account of the role ... Karine Babajanyan sings Floria Tosca ... She is doing this relatively late in her career it might seem, or so some cruel close-ups suggest ... Her voice, basically very attractive in timbre, is not always ideally steady ... But in her many softer moments she is affecting ... Baron Scarpia himself is Carlos Álvarez, who acts and sings with the appalling conviction ... So a fine representative account of Puccini's opera overall, preserving a famous production on film".

Read review

"Man tager et orkester i europæisk topklasse, det hollandske Royal Concertgebouw, en fortrinlig instruktør, en af samtidens største barytoner, og en filmmand, der har øje for operamediet, ja, så har man en opera-dvd, der danner skole for, hvor fint en opera kan transformeres fra scene til skærm ... Derfor sidder man også suget fast til skærmen de to timer, operaen varer ... Hvis De er modstander af opera på dvd, bør De altså give denne en chance".

Read review

"Die Arena di Verona ist ein unterprobter Rein-Raus-Laden für durchreisende, routiniert abliefernde Goldkehlchen. Aber bisweilen stimmt der Moment, und dann brennt die Luft. So geschehen 2023 in der biederen Tosca-Inszenierung Hugoe de Anas ... Sonya Yoncheva ... hat sich hier vokal im Griff und liefert eine primadonnige Diva. Schön, dass dies festgehalten wurde ... Auch Roman Burdenko ist ein schön singender, angemessen sinistrer Scarpia. Francesco Ivan Ciampa gebietet mit viel Puccini-Erfahrung über Chor und Orchester".

"Editor's choice: Banish all scenic expectations. There is no Sant'Andrea della Valle, Palazzo Farnese or Castel Sant'Angelo. Kušej plunges the action under a deep blanket of snow in a dystopian wasteland, a brutal clerical fascist police state ... But his 'Personenregie' is convincing and he draws knockout performances from his cast. Revisiting the production on screen ... it still left me breathless ... No, this is not the finest Tosca you will ever hear, nor the most opulent one you'll ever see ... but it's possibly the one you'll most remember".

"It's a luxury to hear the Royal Concertgebouw in Puccini - one he deserves. Catherine Malfitano is an experienced Tosca, though unchivalrously I must report that she looks rather old, and sometimes sounds it".

Vurdering (performance): 4/5.

Vurdering (presentation): 4/5.

"En utraditionel og spændende opsætning fra Amsterdam 1998. Her er Bryn Terfel fantastisk ikke mindst scenisk som en falden engel af en politichef ... Ricardo Chailly får med Concertgebouw Orkestret fyret gevaldigt op under musikken, men dvd'ens styrke er Nikalous Lehnhoffs meget spændende opsætning, som byder på tankegods".

"Though it contains the usual gargantuan-ism that every Verona production requires, its ideas and look are appropriate and gripping ... Fiorenza Cedolin, in the title role, is far more interesting that she was in the Andrea Bocceli recording of the opera a few years ago ... quite good and will not disappoint".

"En regelret opsætning fra arenaen i Verona ligner en filmet indendørs forestilling. Det er traditionelt, men ikke kedeligt drama under Hugo de Anas håndværkerhænder og med stærke sangere".

"Luc Bondys iscenesættelse er barsk, mere nutidig og uden den glans, som man gerne tilføjer scenebilledet ... Scenografen Richard Peduzzi har også negligeret Engelsborg i slutbilledet. Men Luc Bondys personinstruktion er stærkere end oftest, for eksempel er George Gagnidze en spændende Scarpia. Marcelo Álvarez er en velsyngende Cavaradossi, Karita Mattila en begavet Tosca. En anderledes, dramatisk god opførelse".

"Editor's choice: Kosky and Viotto, closely allied in style, find fresh, sometimes truly shocking energy ... This must be one of the bloodiest Toscas shown on stage, in a world where the characters' Christian faith is clearly a personal defence against the horror of the tyranny under which they live ... The relationship Kosky charts between Guerrero's subtler sung painter and Malin Byström's compelling Tosca is brilliantly detailed, to a large part thanks to the sincerity of Byström's approach ... and as the screw is turned Byström responds to every fresh disaster with haunting plausibility".

"Robert Carsons version af Tosca udspiller sig i et teater. Instruktøren er fascineret af idéen om, at folk tager i operaen for at se en opera om en operasanger (Floria Tosca), der ikke en eneste gang agerer at synge ... Hun tager sig af dage, da hendes to beundrere dør, fordi hun ikke længere har et publikum".

"Musikchef Riccardo Chailly dirigiert eine nobel repräsentative "Tosca"-Sinfonie, breitt, sämig, schwefällig. Diese Tosca rührt keinen Moment ... Grosser Auftritt für Anna Netrebko. Sie wirkt ihrer reichen Mittel sicher, lässt die Stimme aufblühen, auch in dunkle Region hinabsinken. Aber sie ist nie die eifersüchtige Tigerin, die neurotische Grösser-als-das-Leben-Primadonna".

"Supporting and boosting Livermore's overall approach is Chailly, who paints the score in oils worthy of a Renaissance master. The flavours are rich and heavy, the tempos languorous (not always helpful for the singers), and the drama less frenetic than inexorable ... Anna Netrebko is in imperious voice as Tosca, with her darkly tannic lower register especially forceful, and a 'Vissi d'arte' delivered with lashings of buttery tone ... Her relationship with Francesco Meli's Cavaradossi (heroic in tone, making the most of his big moments) is sketchily portrayed".

"Her er en stjernespækket Tosca fra Italiens mest prestigefyldte operahus, optaget i de gode gamle dage før verden brød ud i pandemi og krig i Ukraine ... Den dengang ukontroversielle Anna Netrebko ... er fremragende som divaen - selv om hun strengt taget spiller sig selv - og tenor Francesco Meli byder på en perlerække af rungende toptoner som hendes elsker Cavaradossi, og baryton Luca Salsi er en isnende Scarpia".

"Der er ingen undskyldning for ikke at opleve Puccinis 'Tosca' ... Men der skal til gengæld være en god grund til at se den på en skærm hjemme i stuen. Her er tre gode grunde: for det første har vi Piotr Beczala og hans klingende tenorstemme i partiet som Cavaradossi ... For det andet har vi endnu en debutant i denne opsætning: Carlos Álvarez i rollen som Scarpia. Og for det tredje er det armenske Karine Babajanyan, som synger Toscas parti".

"Albeit without a hint of spontaneity on the soprano's part, there is a good chance that this Tosca is, note for note, one of the finest ever sung ... On DVD it sounds gorgeous: rich and creamy from top to bottom, all of the high C's easily produced and perfectly placed ... Looking ravishing and every inch the diva in her gowns and jewels, Gheorghiu moves well ... But she is always Angela Gheorghiu first and her performance is proof that one can't have everything: This is an amazingly unmoving portrayal ... In Bryn Terfel's performance of Scarpia, one senses what is missing from his leading lady ... Somewhere in between ... comes Jonas Kaufmann's stunning Cavaradossi ... This new one is excellent and if you 'buy' Gheorghiu's act, you'll have no complaints at all".

"Vurdering: Gramophone choice" - "The cast assembles the most starry of the principals who have appeared in the production to date. Gheorghiu makes a credible character out of Tosca ... Her voice keeps its beauty at all but the most high-pressure moments. Jonas Kaufmann scores a complete success as Cavaradossi ... What he lacks in Italianate open tone, he makes up in brooding, dark colours ... Neither of them would be likely to get the better of Bryn Terfel's bully of a Scarpia ... singing on a grand scale. The supporting cast is decent, not more. The other dominant personality is Antonio Pappano, whose Puccini has never sounded better ... As involving at every level as any".

"Editor's choice: This is Puccini's Tosca as a thriller, directed for last year's Salzburg East Festival ... And for the most part it works very well ... The outstanding Anja Harteros is a chic Tosca in shades and slacks ... Tézier's aristocratic baritone suits the suave Godfather scenario ... Thielemann wouldn't necessarily be everyone's - anyone's? - idea of a natural Puccini conductor but there's a certain plush symphonic grandeur to the Staatskapelle's playing which is highly persuasive".

"En regelret opsætning fra arenaen i Verona ligner en filmet indendørs forestilling. Det er traditionelt, men ikke kedeligt drama under Hugo de Anas håndværkerhænder og med stærke sangere".

"Though it contains the usual gargantuan-ism that every Verona production requires, its ideas and look are appropriate and gripping ...Fiorenza Cedolin, in the title role, is far more interesting that she was in the Andrea Bocceli recording of the opera a few years ago ... quite good and will not disappoint".