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Financial Times , 14 May 2008
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By Richard Fairman |
Puccini: Tosca, London, ROH, 12 May 2008
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Tosca
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This is a handsome revival of a handsome
production. After a number of casts in which there always seemed to be one
element wanting, here was a performance that at last generated the lavish,
old-style melodrama to which Jonathan Kent's traditional staging has always
aspired.
His enjoyment of big visual statements - the massive statue of Justice in
Scarpia's study or the symbolic wing of freedom that soars over the Castel
Sant'Angelo - is mirrored in the musical performance. Antonio Pappano has
returned to conduct, as he did when the production was new, and lifts the
melodrama to similarly overbearing peaks. Sometimes it would help if he was
less attentive to moulding every phrase and simply got a move on, but
Pappano's Puccini glows from the inside out - a handsome orchestral sound to
match what we see.
At the head of the cast is Jonas Kaufmann's highly impressive
Cavaradossi. Although his voice is unlikely to be mistaken for an Italian
tenor, Kaufmann is a first-rate singer who is now at the peak of his form.
Everything goes right for him - the burnished sound, the solidly ringing top
notes, the long phrases - and Kaufmann also cuts a dashing figure on stage,
every bit the young arty liberal.
He is paired with two authentically Italian co-stars, the baritone Paolo
Gavanelli and soprano Micaela Carosi. Gavanelli makes a tremendous Scarpia,
so odious from the minute he walks on that it is no surprise Tosca
physically recoils from him. For once here is a melodramatic villain who
really sends a shudder down one's spine, a two-faced monster, now singing
with the sweetest oily legato, now barking out with a voice like a bludgeon.
Carosi's Tosca is not on that level, though she has much to offer. The voice
is on the brittle side, needing constant manipulation to move it round and
keep it in tune, but at her best she is feisty, vivid and fiery, and true
Italian Toscas are never two-a-penny. With Kostas Smoriginas as a strong
Angelotti, Enrico Fissore a Sacristan without clichés, and Hubert Francis
playing Spoletta as if he had an electric current going through him, there
was dramatic life in every corner of this performance. A better revival of
Tosca is unlikely to come this way soon. **** |
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