24th April TOSCA from the Met on your radio

Update (thanks for the info little ghost!) :-) For all those who have missed it first time around here is another chance to hear the marvellous Tosca from the Met Broadcast):

Giacomo Puccini: "Tosca"Samstag, 08. Mai 2010,

19:30 WebRadio Ö1 (this would be 18,30 in UK)

http://oe1.orf.at/programm/tag/20100508

---------------------

Isn't it just amazing what the adrenaline rush of the 2nd act transformed itself into in act3? It was definitely one of the most beautiful renditions i have ever heard. Not even the applause at the end of Lucevan was able to cut through the emotional web of it. I cannot be thankful enough to Luisi, this amazing orchestra, Jonas and Ms Racette for making time almost stand still. I lingered on every single note, on every word and this last half and hour (as well as the entire show) will stay with me for a loooooong loooooooong looooooooong time. I am grateful not only for the music and the singing, but above all for feeling so deeply touched.


Dolci mani..... and now i can... live happily ever after!

ohhhh!! If you hear a BIG bang it's because i have just exploded with pride!! That was an exquisite Vittoria! and Carnefice!!!!. Soooo made in Jonas! It sounded incredibly easy breezy (not because it is, but because he knows how do it best :-) It was clear and powerful and may i say elegant???? It stopped when the music wanted it to stop and he sounded like he could have gone on for more, but didn't :-) And that was one of the clearest, smartest sung Carnefice i ever heard from him. Every single word was audible and understandable and it still packed a punch! I'm just going to keep gloating for a while.... So very very very well done JK!!!


More: Is it wrong to want to throw yourself at this Scarpia fellow? I can just feel myself floating towards him.... this is magnetism!!!

And the public, don't touch another bloody espresso in the intermission!!!! Sit on your hands if you must, but pleasseeee don't clap before JK stops singing!! Just enjoy those precious notes till the end and let me enjoy them too... God!

And Racette sounds just gorgeouusss!!! Hach!

Update right now: OMG.... OMG!!!!!! what a feast!!! and the voices feel like they are trickling down my spine... pure opera-heaven!!

Tosca divinaaaa......


Photo: Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera via BBC Radio3 page

So tomorrow almost everyone get's a chance to listen:

1pm NY time, 6pm London time, 7pm CET time (and for others check out here).

According to the NY Times: "‘TOSCA’ Luc Bondy’s production of “Tosca,” the much-debated staging that opened the Metropolitan Opera’s season and elicited vociferous boos for the creative team, is back. But the new cast is terrific, which makes a huge difference. The soprano Patricia Racette is a deeply expressive and impassioned Tosca; the dashing tenor Jonas Kaufmann triumphs as Cavaradossi, singing by turns with burnished power and plaintive pianissimos; and the towering bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is a menacing and mesmerizing Scarpia. There is only one more chance to hear this cast, conducted with sweep and intensity by Fabio Luisi. "

You can listen:

In the US search for your station on the Met page here

Bayern Klassik here (you can listen by clicking right where it says Live horen or here )

France Musique here (click left on écouter le direct)

BBC Radio 3 here (click above right on the Listen live iplayer or on the right on this blog the BBC3 widget) --> with pictures and details as always :-)

RTV Radio Classica here (click above right where it says Radio classica en directo, Haz click para escuchar)

Enjoy and in bocca al lupo to everyone on the Met stage and in the pit :-)

........

It seems my overdose of Tosca has somehow triggered my subconsciousness. Although because of its originality I kept mentioning the Carsen Tosca I saw in Zurich, what has been almost haunting me these last 2 weeks is the ROH Tosca I saw a few years ago. Until about an hour or so ago I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you if it was 2007 or 2008….

Reading the papers and various reviews these days I kept getting strangely nostalgic because I have heard Jonas Kaufkmann’s first Tosca a the ROH and tomorrow I will hear it from the Met. There have been various in between, but reading about the Met Tosca somehow brought me closer to the first one than any of the others…

I still lived in Edinburgh back then and I booked a Tosca at whim because I hadn’t seen any in a while. The cast was known except for Mario, who was tba when I booked. The shows were barely half sold when the run began and nobody liked the production much. Pappano was to conduct.

And conduct he did! There is a before an after for me with Tosca thanks to Pappano. He made Puccini sound beautiful, emotional, romantic and passionate and most of all real. All was done and he took us as deep or as high as one can imagine without ever overdoing it. He kept the beat of our hearts always louder than the music and for the first time in my life i hang on every single note of this score.

Then there was this newborn-Mario, who made us giggle and melt, who suddenly made not only two arias but all duets stand out, who sung Vittoria from all fours and grabbed Scarpia by his collar to shout him Carnefice in the face! And who together with Pappano created the most amazing 3rd act I have ever heard. For the first time in my life there was no applause after Lucevan! ( Not once, not twice, in none of the three performances I went to..) Because an audience of 2200 followed Mario’s every last breath, because the spell could and would not be broken ( a lady next to me stopped her husband from clapping with a begging gesture). Because this Mario hugged the wooden stump where he would be shot as if it was Tosca’s form, his tortured hands tremblingly caressing it as if his lover’s curves. Because this Mario knew he was going to die, because he sang the sweetest “dolci mani” and brought many in the audience to tears with his “parlami ancora come dianzi parlavi … ”. I’ve never seen people cry at the end of Tosca before, even before Mario is shot.

How is it done? No idea, ask JK! It just seams it is not about the piani, the high notes , the long notes or whatever.. It is about what Mario feels and how he feels it, about his life and death, about his love of art and freedom, and above all his love for Floria.

But there is such a thing like a Tosca where you are too touched to applaud; I know because I remember how it felt to be there.

The whole run sold out after the first performance and I remember going straight to the box office the morning after the first one and buying my next ticket. And the next.. And had I not been sternly advised that 3 were enough! I would have gladly trotted back down from Edinburgh for one more :-)

And guess what I just found out? It’s how this blog started! I’ve never remembered what I first wrote about… Seems my subconscious did ;-) And it wanted me to remember those Toscas these days… because it is almost exactly two years ago :-)
You are welcome to go searching and read it if you like :-) But, it’s in Spanish ( kind of pompous sounding some of it, what was I thinking???). turns out I always was a lazy/sloppy writer… I my first post ever about an opera I call JK.. well, JK:-) ( I am thereby demanding copyright!) I said he was “polifacetico” ( I know!! Pompous of me..) and I go on saying about Vittoria and Carnefice that they are a perfect pairing of freedom and despair, release and vengeance :-) ( hmm, still agree with some of that:-) Not surprisingly I was already waxing on and on and on about some “Quale occhio al mondo” and “dolci mani” (the latter still is my favourite bit of the entire score..).

Anyway, that Tosca was special, still is special so I want to remember and I wish to celebrate! So tomorrow’s is definitely much more than just one more Tosca! :-)

And no matter if anyone tells me how many are enough or too many, I will say : I’ll be the judge of that, and at the moment I am looking forward to many many many more (and hoping that one day I’ll relive the “too beautiful to applaud” one ).

I just wish I was sitting there live tomorrow to be able to copy paste my first post ending :

...Viendo la sonrisa traviesa de crío que le sale a JK en los bravos, gritos y aplausos me entro la risa acordándome de las palabras de Floria:Oh, come la sai benel'arte di farti amare!

Well, nothing here to stop me from having a giggle during curtain calls tomorrow :-)

Turns out i probably do like Tosca as an opera after all ;-))

I'll have my virus with some music on top please

Stonehaven (near Aberdeen), the North Sea... a piece of heaven!



Warning : this is just a post-beginning, i'll write more tomorrow and hopefully get things up to date :-) And i'll get back on the comments re the Met Tosca, of course :-)

----------------------

Luck comes in strange ways…. I’m lucky to be back in London, sleeping in my own bed tonight! Oh, no I didn’t miss out on all the volcano fun, how could i? Given my track record volcano-cancellation was just what my weird travel log was missing… just one more involuntary adventure … (remember this?)

At least I was stuck on the island ( and not off the island), in Scotland and took the beautiful journey down south. But since lady luck seems to think I need some spice in my life the day started at 7am, work until 2pm, train at 3pm (after prayers and begging to find a seat … )…. For 8 hours! Five of which were spent in the charming company of a group of underage drunks 2 seats in front of me and a stag party, just as drunk, 3 seats behind me. The stag-boys were dressed up elegantly in fishnets, miniskirts and strappy tops, all dolled up with make up and stilettos… Not even the oomph of JK’s truly jaw-dropping “Vittoriaaaaaa!!!!!!” in my ears could drown out the rowdiness.. And I lost track after 6 bottles of booze each because I got too distracted by listening to ”Dolci maaaaniiii” . Lucky me they never suspected that I enjoyed myself by listening to Tosca over and over again… they might not have departed so “peacefully”…. At least I can’t complain that my 130GBP ticket (which was sold to me as first class, but turned out to be my usual cattle class..) didn’t come with entertainment for the journey.

Finally at the edge of London some 3 hours and a train-sandwich-dinner later another surprise… Fire alarm at King’s Cross! So we took a break in the darkness of the city, because after all we were in really no hurry to get home. …One hour later on the underground thinking that I may yet make it home I hear: This train is held at a red signal, please wait for further announcements…Wait we did, I wasn’t too keen on jogging home with suitcase and backpack in tow ;-)) Then there we go, miracle happens and we move again!! But miracles don’t last long, 2 more stops down the line: This train is held at a red signal… and you know the drill. The two other passengers in the wagon gave me the looks when I suddenly started giggling uncontrollably!

So you see, “things” always happen when I travel :-) I’ll never know why. The good thing is after a volcano nothing will phase me :-) And as they say, Ende gut, Alles gut!

This was just the end of a couple of months where various viruses found an unusually strong attraction to me and where I tried to duck them to still be able to enjoy some music. And enjoy I did!!! A Konigskinder in Zurich, 2x Goerne with Schubert at the Wigmore, Hamlet from the Met in HD, the amazing Mariss Jansons with SOBR and Shostakovich, the Gambler and the Turco at the ROH :-)

More on these and on Stonehaven once I wake up from the dead tomorrow morning….

One thing I can tell you, I think I finally found spring!! And it smells of the sea and has cold hands when it caresses your hair and face :-)

Crossing fingers for all the stranded travellers to find their way back to their homes as quickly as possible!

Good night!

Jonas Kaufmann And Bryn Terfel Turn Met's Much-booed 'Tosca' Into A Feast Of Great Singing

update 20/04: Interview Magazine:

"Revenge of the Booed Opera
By Alex Gartenfeld 04/20/2010 03:20 PM

There is no redemption in the Napoleonic era in which Puccini's Tosca is set. None of the main characters, with the significant exception of the villainous tyrant Scarpia, could be said to have earned his or her murder by deceit or suicide. This is not the experience of the Greek hero and his insurmountable fatal flaw; the eponymous protagonist, a singer, indulges in a bit of hysterical jealousy when she realizes that her lover, the painter Cavaradossi, has painted the Madonna after the sister of an escaped rebel. Cavarodossi, for his part, plays the martyr, and the easy token victim to conservative repression of Scarpia's repressive regime.

But there was redemption Wednesday and Friday night in director Luc Bondy's production of Tosca, a piece that was booed when it premiered almost a year ago. The show was roundly compared it to the storied production by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, with Maria Callas in the lead part. (Zeffrielli, for his part, called Bondy a "third-rate" director for turning Puccini's opera into a darker, more minimal affair).

On Wednesday, Bondy set out with a new cast: Patricia Racette, in the role opera buffs (and all they do is polish) remember as belonging to Maria Callas. Racette is irascible and inexplicable with jealousy, and then melodramatically appeased in the first act. She's tragic in the last, as her attempts to defend her lover's honor, her honor, and then his life, are in vain. Although the script calls for vast changes in temperament, Racette's style never feels episodic. She carries the lyrical arias in the second act, and her voice grows as the show goes on, pleading for Cavaradossi's release as he refuses to give up the location of the hidden rebel. Racette's a wise choice to supplement the public memory of Tosca because, like Callas, who could go dramatically flat, her's is an idiosyncratic voice. She's gravelly and her pacing is wild in the beginning, but unfolds and ultimately demonstrates control.

Jonas Kaufmann is rare for a German tenor–he’s smolderingly handsome. He's also remarkably fluid as the strong-willed bohemian who sticks to his guns but can't save himself–and maybe, just maybe will find vindication when Napoleon defeats Scarpia. His voice soaring over the orchestra in the first act was particularly remarkable. Bryn Terfel finds humor as the relentless Scarpia; he uses his strong baritone to overpower and seduce.

There are repeated complaints about the interpretation of staging, which are not, in fact, distracting. Cavaradossi's painting of the Madeleine with her breast exposed is onstage throughout; it's a sordid altarpiece in an opera with equally sordid motives. The booed production involved characters embracing this image; she's only cut, here, across the eyes by Tosa, her innocence already lost. Thankfully, the production lacked the rising and falling sets and mysterious nooks that the Met so often favors. The second act, set in Scarpia's chambers, the setting of the second act, was a wonderfully bizarre period room, which looked like an administrative post office designed by Frank Stella in the 1970s. It was as fully and obscurely realized, as an opera about unexplained wrath ought to be."

and there are more comments and reflections on Tosca here :-)
Update 16/04: NY Post review here.:

"A t'weaked 'Tosca' really sings
April 16, 2010 James Jorden
Oh, what a difference the details make -- and the right cast and conductor. This season's biggest bomb, Luc Bondy's production of "Tosca," has blossomed into one of the strongest stagings of this opera in decades.
Since the fall premiere, dozens of details have been tweaked in the critically lambasted staging of Puccini's thriller about a glamorous diva. Lights are brighter; the elegantly gowned Tosca no longer plops down on a filthy church floor -- and police chief Scarpia's Act 2 hooker four-way stops short of oral action.
An even happier improvement is the cast, especially Jonas Kaufmann as Tosca's lover, the artist Cavaradossi. His tenor is dark, even rough in places, but high notes are huge and meaty. In the love song "Recondita armonia," he faded the last note to a whisper, winning loud bravos.

Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera
Jonas Kaufmann's a welcome addition to the opera, in which Patricia Racette plays Tosca.
As the lustful Scarpia, Bryn Terfel commanded the stage with the suave brutality of a James Bond villain, openly mocking Tosca after her prayer "Vissi d'arte." The sinewy tone of his rich bass-baritone made the atmosphere even eerier.
Beside these two giants, Patricia Racette's Tosca seemed almost miniature. Her shimmering, true soprano easily projected over the heavy orchestration, but she underplayed the extravagance of her diva character.
Of all the night's marvels, the greatest was conductor Fabio Luisi, subbing on 10 days' notice when Met music director James Levine was sidelined by back surgery.
Shaving minutes off each act with quicksilver tempos and razor-precise transitions, he discovered haunting orchestral colors reminiscent of Debussy. He's alert to the singers, too, delicately following Kaufmann's dreamy opening of "E lucevan le stelle."
Luisi's reportedly on the short list of conductors to succeed Levine when the injury-plagued maestro chooses -- or is persuaded -- to step down. It's hard to imagine a more brilliant candidate."

Update: NY Times review here:

"Boos Become Bravos at the Met By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Published: April 15, 2010 What a difference a cast can make.
Luc Bondy’s new production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” which opened the Metropolitan Opera’s season in September, returned on Wednesday night. Yes, that production, the one with the convoluted staging that elicited vociferous boos for the creative team when it was introduced; where the lecherous Scarpia straddles a statue of the Blessed Virgin and consorts with tawdry prostitutes; where, after stabbing Scarpia, Tosca muses on a couch in his rooms at the palazzo instead of enacting the ritual of expiation with the candles and the crucifix that Puccini devised.

Yet Wednesday’s “Tosca” was one of the most exciting performances of the Met season to date, thanks to three exceptional singers, all performing their roles for the first time at the Met. Patricia Racette, an inexplicably underrated soprano, brought a richly expressive voice and raw emotion to her wrenching portrayal of Tosca. Jonas Kaufmann, currently the hottest tenor in opera, was an impetuous and vocally smoldering Mario Cavaradossi, singing with vulnerable tenderness one moment and burnished power the next. And the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel commandeered the stage with his vocally chilling and shockingly lusty Scarpia.

The conductor Fabio Luisi, replacing James Levine, who has ongoing back problems, drew a taut, surging performance from the orchestra, chorus and cast — a wonder, since in the typical ways of repertory opera houses this “Tosca” was thrown together at the last minute. Wednesday night was the first time Mr. Luisi, the orchestra and all three of his principals were together. After Mr. Luisi agreed to cover for Mr. Levine, he flew into New York for one day last week to work with the cast in a rehearsal studio. Mr. Kaufmann, nursing a bad cold, was absent that day.

Despite the lack of rehearsal this “Tosca” was riveting. Mr. Kaufmann, Ms. Racette and Mr. Terfel are gifted, compelling and intuitive actors. Their interplay — the romantic banter between Tosca and Cavaradossi, the dangerous dance of wits between Scarpia and Tosca — was so nuanced you would have thought the singers had been rehearsing for weeks.

Karita Mattila, who sang Tosca when the production was introduced, was to have returned, but she withdrew because of illness. Tosca is a recent addition to Ms. Racette’s repertory.

She does not have a glamorous voice. Her sound can have a grainy texture, and her sustained tones can be tremulous. Still, this role suits her beautifully. She sang with uncommon richness, expressivity and honesty. In the soaring phrases of “Vissi d’arte” she captured both the dignity and despair of the character: a great diva, yet a devout woman and fiercely jealous lover.

Mr. Kaufmann received frenzied bravos from the audience. His russet-colored voice has body and charisma. You could sense amazement throughout the house at his thrilling top notes during Cavaradossi’s defiant cries of “Vittoria!” Yet his plaintive pianissimo phrases were equally impressive. That the youthful, curly-haired Mr. Kaufmann is also heartthrob-handsome did not hurt.

Mr. Bondy’s production still seems drab, confused and full of gratuitous strokes geared to rattle “Tosca” devotees. But with Mr. Bondy not on the scene this cast made some crucial alterations. During the “Te Deum” Mr. Terfel’s Scarpia exuded lust and power as he fantasized about conquering Tosca. But he stopped short of the bump-and-grind routine with the Madonna. Even the idea of surrounding Scarpia briefly with three prostitutes in his chambers made somewhat more sense with this Scarpia, since the towering, robust Mr. Terfel so easily conveys bawdy physicality.

There are still no candles and crucifix. But Ms. Racette was better than Ms. Mattila at executing Mr. Bondy’s idea that for a few minutes Tosca, with Scarpia’s body nearby, is too stunned to do anything other than ponder her choices.

The individual performances were so strong I hardly noticed the elements of the production that prompted so much earlier controversy. There are seven more performances of “Tosca” this season but only three more chances to catch this outstanding cast."

Earlier : more opinions from viewers here

or so say CBS News quoting Associated Press:

"MIKE SILVERMAN (AP) – NEW YORK — The boos heard 'round the world on opening night were mostly gone as "Tosca" reappeared at the Metropolitan Opera with a new cast that turned Puccini's melodrama into a feast of great singing.

Credit for that goes chiefly to German tenor Jonas Kaufmann as the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi, and Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel as the evil police chief, Baron Scarpia.Both were making their first appearances at the Met in more than two years on Wednesday night, and both have been sorely missed.

Kaufmann has blossomed from a fine lyric tenor into something more. With his dark-hued voice and formidable technique he now apparently can sing Wagner, Verdi, Puccini and French opera with equal flair.As Cavaradossi, he displayed the heroic top notes required to turn his defiant cry of "Vittoria!" in Act 2 and his Act 3 aria, "E lucevan le stelle" ("And the stars were shining") into show-stoppers. Equally impressive was the ravishing tenderness he brought to many soft phrases, such as "O dolci mani" ("O sweet hands"), when he sings in wonderment that his beloved Tosca has stabbed Scarpia to death.

That murder takes place at the end of Act 2, and until his demise, Terfel etched a portrayal of tremendous power. The sheer amplitude of his sound has always been thrilling, riding easily over the orchestra during moments like the Act 1 "Te deum," where most bass-baritones struggle to be heard.But Terfel has so much more to offer. He can turn the merest whisper into a bloodcurdling threat, or casually create chills as when he invites Tosca to enjoy a sip of Spanish wine to calm her nerves before he plans to rape her.

If the title character herself has been left for last, it's not any fault of American soprano Patricia Racette. She delivered a fine, forthright performance, more down-to-earth and less the prima donna than many Toscas. Aside from a rushed high note and some pitch problems at the end of her aria, "Vissi d'arte" ("I lived for art"), she sang the part extremely well.

Still, her overall impact paled a bit next to the high-powered performances of the men.

The production by French director Luc Bondy has been modified since it opened the season to the loudest booing in Met memory — a reception that created headlines worldwide. Scarpia no longer lasciviously embraces the statue of the Madonna at the end of Act 1. Tosca no longer fans herself while casually reclining on a sofa after murdering Scarpia.A technical glitch made it appear another effect had been dropped. At the very end, Tosca is supposed to leap to her death off the prison battlements where her lover has just been executed. Bondy has a body double jump from a parapet and hang by wires over the stage. But the lights went out too soon, and she jumped in darkness.

There were still a few boos at the final curtain, but cheers for the singers drowned them out. The cheers were also loud for conductor Fabio Luisi, who led a sweeping, tense account of a score that can sound merely melodramatic."

Copyright (AP Photos/Cory Weaver - Metropolitan Opera)© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

PS i only wish i could have seen the confrontations between Mario and Scarpia in the 2nd act ;-))) Oh well, and heard them sing... sighhhh...

There will be a Met broadcast of the 24th April performances, details on the Met page here.

So, there was this Tosca.. erm Mario,..erm... Jonas Kaufmann....

Thanks keyakixx for the video

Did i say i had enough of Tosca???? I must have been hallucinating... How can anyone ever get enough of this????

And for anyone missing the Vittoria... here it is!

:-)))

Thanks leonorafl for the video

The Italian Season kicks off at the ROH tonight!

So tonight the party starts!

There will be Traviata with Fleming, Calleja, Hampson and Pappano, there will be Barbiere with Keenlyside, DiDonato, Florez, Corbelli, Furlanetto and Pappano ( be still my heart!!) , Ballo with Vargas, Marambio, Jenis, Manistina and Benini and Tosca with Voigt, Giordani, Terfel and Lacombe.

Director of opera Elaine Padmore gives more details to OMH here. Read also for some comments on the new season, which will kick with another dose of italianita ;-)))

For insights from Tony Pappano about conducting Traviata, Barbiere and Lulu ( of which you can still catch a last performance this weekend) check out this MusicalCriticism interview.

The Thomas Hampson Inteview on OMH here.

For those into Divas and Traviatas here is another interview from MusicalCriticism with Renee Fleming.

Tickets for all this stuff have been in great demand, but check out the ROH page, some last minute tickets here and there are to be had these days, or else you can try your luck with the day tickets.

For those who have been unlucky with Traviata and Barbiere there is another chance with the ROH BP Summer big screen:

Traviata, on the 30th of June, details here.

Barbiere, on the 15th of July, details here.

As for me, i have a confession to make... ehem... iboughtaticketfortheTraviata... STOP! Don't start throwing the rotten tomatoes just yet! I know it looked just a day ago as if i had sworn off Traviata for a while... sadly i have the the willpower of a blackcurrant, i'm destined for Ribena...erm Traviata ;-) I haven't even paid attention to it when the schedule came on sale, and then a week ago i realised it was Tony Pappano conducting! That was my undoing. So yesterday i snatched up a low visibility, high vertigo ticket for the Traviata on Monday, the 22nd.

Don't expect any comparisons to come out of me as a consequence though :-) I have no expectations beyond Signor Pappano making me believe Verdi wrote divine music indeed. :-) There will be no cast comparisons, so no need to try and find me in the House and push me to my death ( besides you wouldn't want any 210 pounds paying patrons to die in the process, would you? ;-))

After which i will indeed do the Ballo twice ( i've never seen it live before and i look forward to hearing Vargas again!) and oh yes, i definitely plan to overdose on the Barbiere ( performances, insight, the lot). I've just heard Simon Keenlyside in Verdi, so it will be more than interesting to hear how fast he can switch to Rossini. I'm quite confident he can :-) How Pappano will switch back and forth from Verdi to Rossini is for me another open question.

Then there is the Tosca.... i know, more Tosca.... well, so far i've stayed away from it, for obvious reasons. With my recent track record if i'd had any voice at all i could very well apply to be an understudy for any role ;-))))) (but you're safe, remember.. i'm still slightly.. indisposed ;-) ) But i have to admit upfront that the name Bryn Terfel is flashing before my eyes every day. There is a slight chance that i will give in in the end... i'll have to wait and see.

So, ladies and gents, brush up on your Italian, let your decoltees and your shoes sparkle and let the 3 signori above entertain you! Heat up your summer with some passione, amore, morte, gelosia, intrigo, risata e dolore :-))

Sweet gifts from and for friends

No photos of people today :-) and the one above is borrowed from people with more luck and good planning then me. The times when my camera finger really itches are of course the times i haven't got it with me..

This week i have been back up in Scotland and was greeted by the most amazing blue skies, the kind of sharp, pure blue you only get up there. I wish i had had time to feel the beach under my feet, but unfortunately the closest i got was not nearly close enough...

Still, nothing like breathing in fresh sea air, looking around and seeing nothing but the most intense green and the stark, reliable grey of granite with little white sheep dotted along the hills.

I missed stuff in London, but i got to enjoy a bit of Scottish summer at its best.

The week ended like summer always does up there, with a serious, kid-you-not downpour!

I like the rain in Scotland! It doesn't muck about, with two drops there and two drops here, where you carry your brollie around for nothing and still have your shoes full of dirt at the end of the day. Instead, it is the kind of rain where your brollie is useless, so you don't bother with it in the first place. In 30 seconds you are dripping with the clean, fresh water coming from above, you shake out your hair in the wind and have a good laugh about it. And then you have a cup of tea with shortbreads, or a pint with some fresh fish to warm up.

And just like that the world feels whole and normal again... I have a hunch that this feeling of belonging, of being back home will always be there whenever i am in Scotland. It's strange for so many reasons, i can't even begin to explain, but why questions things when they feel right ?And to me this does.

I'm back from this week as peaceful and as relaxed as i haven't been in quite a while.

So, because i feel so good it's time to share! Over the last weeks i have received some musical gifts from good friends and here is for all of you my favourite bit of Tosca :-) Don't go... on noooo, not Tosca again! before you listen to it :-)

Of course it is Jonas Kaufmann as Mario Cavaradossi singing "O dolci mani..." from act 3 Tosca in Wien a couple of days ago (she is Catherine Naglestad, and don't gt too bothered about the orchestra ;-)):

CAVARADOSSI
Tu!?... di tua man l'uccidesti? - tu pia, tu benigna, - e per me!

TOSCA
N'ebbi le man tutte lorde di sangue!

CAVARADOSSI
prendendo amorosamente fra le sue le mani di Tosca
O dolci mani mansuete e pure,
o mani elette a bell'opre e pietose,
a carezzar fanciulli, a coglier rose,
a pregar, giunte, per le sventure,
dunque in voi, fatte dall'amor secure,
giustizia le sue sacre armi depose?
Voi deste morte, o man vittoriose,
o dolci mani mansuete e pure!...

Music trip Wien… one more Tosca, same Cavaradossi :-)

Catherine Naglestad, Jonas Kaufmann. Foto: Axel Zeininger (Wiener Zeitung)

Tosca, Puccini, Wien 09/05/2009

Dirigent: Pier Giorgio Morandi
Floria Tosca : Catherine Naglestad
Mario Cavaradossi: Jonas Kaufmann
Scarpia : Ruggero Raimondi
Angelotti : Clemens Unterreiner
Spoletta: Alexander Kaimbacher

Orchester und Chor der Wiener Staatsoper



I guess Tosca will never be my favourite opera, which doesn’t mean I can’t see it often enough if given good reasons. Listening to the most interesting Cavaradossi around these days IS reason enough.

So off I was again to see what must be one of the oldest, if not THE oldest Tosca production still around! The Tosca at the Wiener Staatsoper is now 51 years old…. and doesn’t look a year older than …. 30 ;-) It is of course totally traditional; haven’t checked the details, but I suspect an almost exact depiction of the libretto. And as far as old productions go, this has the merit that although deeply historically embedded, it managed to stay away from exaggeration and it gives you plenty to look at without totally distracting you. It is also remarkably well maintained. There is also the fact that the space on stage at the Staatsoper is almost twice as big as the seating area, which means you are too far away too see the wear and tear. Still, it looks fresher, than say, the Hoffmann at ROH. Where it does show its age is in the difference between decorative and atmospheric. There are “traditional” productions today, i.e set in the historically accurate time, with period costumes, etc. However they tend to have an added twist, extra lighting, individual elements brought forward for other purposes than just the pleasing of the eye. Sitting in the Staatsoper it was very interesting to observe the difference between this production and the one at ROH. In Wien you almost felt like seeing Rome before your eyes, but in a sight-seeing kind of way. Where as in the ROH production the elements are used to imprint a certain atmosphere as well, not only to decorate or suggest coordinates in space.

In the Zurich/Carsen production the atmosphere and the emotional currents were almost overpowering, in a way which almost made you uncomfortable sometimes. Which is most effective in transmitting messages? Most likely the Carsen version, as everything there is tuned to push your buttons. The ROH production has however some of the lavishness of the period, which is nice to discover again from time to time.

In this respect, the production in Wien is harder to work with, because unless you have good singers, who are also very engaged actors, it remains a pretty picture with little emotional impact. It stays theatre and doesn’t really become a story. I personally felt the difference in the second act, which made unusually little impact on me. It is supposed to be the high point of emotion and passions, to the point where things boil over. Faced with a pretty, light filled salon it is even harder to make the darkness brood. Also, this is by definition Scarpia’s act…which is where I sadly have to admit that I was disappointed by Ruggero Raimondi. Not vocally, his top is much more slick and secure than I would have ever expected at this point.( of course, everything else than forte is no longer that nice, but he has the technique and experience to deliver pleasant singing). But, with cherished images of his Don Giovanni and even the Tosca DVD in mind, I searched and searched for what I expected to be a vivid stage presence and found much less…. I don’t know if it is because he has to concentrate more on the singing at this stage, or just because he is actually too nice to come across convincingly as evil…. But I wasn’t particularly impressed by his Scarpia, nor really frightened, or repulsed or fascinated… Where was the machiavellic, serpent like Scrapia I pictured from the DVD… I don’t know. I couldn’t find him last night.

In contrast Naglestad’s Tosca seemed a bit overacted in this part, probably more so as she didn’t have equally strong reactions from Scarpia to play against. Her shudders while looking at the day bed and the panicked and uncontrollable frenzy with which she stabs Scarpia several times, front and back, where effective, but her movements were altogether too broad, too athletic. She covered just a tiny bit too much space with her arms, swished her dress around a bit too much. A Tosca of those times would very likely have had much more restrained movements, until the situation became physically dangerous for her, she would have maybe tried to stare him to death rather than gesticulate widely.

Musically it is harder to describe things because I had an awkward seat...first row, just two steps away from the percussion (didn’t chose it, it is what happens when you pre-order, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you’re not). For the price of the ticket the sound is terrible. It wasn’t as bad as in the Manon, or rather in a different way. In the first row you sit next to the instrumentalists in the pit, and I mean in a kind of hand shaking, eye contact, smile at each other kind of way. Basically the guy with the violin, the trombone or the drum is as close to you as you next seat neighbour. And the pit in Wien is something else, it is completely open, that is not at all covered by the stage, quite vast … and on this particular night - high, they were sitting at the same level as the audience. Add to this the distance to the stage and the fact that things did not happen at stage limit, but rather 2 or more meters inside the stage and you get all kinds of unpleasant audio effects: it was exciting to feel so much part of the orchestra and be able to hear each instrument as a totally separate and individual sound, but it doesn’t make for a very good Puccini experience…. And you also felt surrounded by a wall of sound which at time was quite difficult to penetrate by the singing voices. The sound of the orchestra together with the distance and the high walls of the decors dampened Mario’s tortured cries just a bit too much, never mind the poor child singer in the last act who was almost inaudible.

Overall I still thought they played better than at the Manon, and the players were evidently individually good, but good players don’t necessarily make a good orchestra and the winds love to play up way too much and were not adequately dampened by the conductor. The piercing interjection at the end of act two was so incredibly harsh it sounded almost off. Overall the conductor (Pier Giorgio Morandi) drove slow, sometimes languid tempi. They worked unusually well for the Visi d’arte which had a touch of tenderness and sweetness, but had a contrary effect at other times, which I will come back to.

With Mario’s torture in the 2nd scene the production was traditionally restrained. I mean the man was screaming in pain and from what Scarpia describes the means used are beyond horror, so why does he come out more lead than carried, he is supposed to have fainted? And there are few splatters of blood on his forehead and shirt. Not that I enjoy horrific images, but the idea is that your heart must break when you see what they have put him through and he resisted. And the pain when he finds out it was all for nothing, because Tosca has revealed the secret, must be double as harsh. It is from this profound desperation and frustration that the notice of Napoleon’s victory gives him some relief and vindication. The pain must be as deep for the Vittoria to be as uplifting. (I really liked this in ROH, when they really made an effort for Mario to look the part and appear as week initially and as enlivened subsequently, as Jonas always does his bit to sound it :-)). Luckily, Jonas did his best to wince convincingly in pain and show that Mario goes on “victorious” by force of will, determination and dignity to overcome physical frailty. The Vittoria, judging by the applause at the end of act, more than fulfilled the public’s expectations. However, it was so powerful that my favourite bit of it, the “Scarpia, carnefice” was a bit less so, also due to the fact that the orchestra overreacted once again and totally overshadowed the last outcry. Mind you the jailors/torturers were obviously not accustomed to such determined Marios and they almost let him loose on Scarpia ( in a last minute reaction they grabbed Jonas quickly and in earnest ;-) And not a moment too soon ;-))

Moving on to the last act, this is where the slow tempi backfired somewhat.

I love this act and needless to say, “E lucevan” is a big part of it, and so is “dolci mani”. I’ll admit that I am ridiculously spoiled in this respect, I’ve come to prefer Jonas’ languid, love and melancholy filled interpretation beyond all others. It feels right and it is just what you need to empathise with the tragic end of the character. Not that I can’t like other interpretations, or that I think this is the only one emotional one. It is just the one that I like more. If only… if only the conductor would have not elongated the lines beyond human breath. The violin sounded absolutely beautiful and filled with sadness, as did the clarinet.. BUT this is not an aria for two instruments. I’m convinced by the skills of the players, but what Puccini wanted us to hear here are Mario’s last thoughts. And I didn’t find it acceptable that the balance was reversed, forcing the singer into almost un-breathable lines, destroying the ethereal and fluid fragility of the net of thoughts he spins with his voice. Almost, because he managed to react and with seamless technique adjust his breathing and line to the players and harmonise towards a beautiful end. More power to him, for making the transition almost unnoticeable. The public went absolutely wild after it, which I have mixed feelings about. The applause was more than deserved, but of course, cheering and shouting totally wrecks the sadness of the atmosphere he just managed to envelop us in. Personally, I believe the cheering can wait until the end, because the emotional intensity that is gained by letting the music flow is all worth it.
Obviously, the conductor had a different idea, he just lay his stick down and let the cheering unfold. There were Bis shouts, which were unsuccessful :-)

The remainder of the act unfolded under a beautifully acted and quite sensitively sung love duet. And with that we come to the best bits of the evening, Catherine and Jonas managed to portray a very believable and engaged couple. The dolci mani was sweet and passionate and the whole interaction brought me at least a lot of emotion. Especially when she dreams of freedom and behind her in a sad pose, unseen by her, he slowly shakes his head in negation. The last embrace beautifully mirrors one in the first act, but with the fragility in the pose reversed. Where as in the first act Mario sits up on the stairs and holds her against him, she resting on his legs, and gently embraces her, here they are reversed and she is the one soothingly stroking his head resting against her. His fragility and the effort he makes to hide his despair in the embrace and her tenderness are touching to tears. Although I only barely escaped letting one slip on his “Parlami ancora come dianzi parlavi…”… And they both proved that there is no need for big gestures to transmit emotion, slowly fidgeting hands, a gentle caress, a kiss on the hand is all is needed.

Her last cry was effective and generally her strong high register impressed the public, for me her voice was not that ideal, I think retrospectively I prefer Emily Magee’s warmer, more homogenous tone. Sometimes Naglestad sounded a bit imbalanced, with piercing top, but piani which sometimes ended on just too much air. Her diction is not the best one can hear, but I think it is not so much the diction , but the emission of her vowels, which was at times too open and made her sound dry and hollow. I mean she is a decent Tosca, but I am sorry to say she is not really my favourite one.

This is somehow Tosca backwards, sorry if this is confusing! But I have left the best for last! Strangely enough the first act was the best, for me also due to the interaction of Catherine and Jonas. Although once again the Mario I got was different from what I expected. With Carsen I got to know a different Mario, sweet and genuine, a good, warm person through and through and just when I though that actually made sense and I don’t mind him being rather on the tender side than on the “cheeky” one I was watching the Mario last night with some disbelief… Who’s this guy impatiently and dismissively snapping at the sacristano? And constantly peeking behind Tosca’s back at the chapel where he has hidden Angelotti… No blue eyes will be painted black with this pintore! Of course this Mario still loves his Tosca, but he’s no push over :-) But boy does he siiiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggg!!!!!!!!! This is the single most beautiful Recondita armonia I have ever heard…. And unbelievable to all, it ended in the most amazing endless descrescendo! And throughout the entire first act the romantic and fluid tempi were a perfect match for the lovers quarrel and play. So much so that from the first notes of the Recondita at least half the orchestra members decided they wanted to see part of the show as well. Anyone who wasn’t busy with their fingers was twisting their necks to see and hear him on stage and I couldn’t stop smiling and gloating at their pleased and enchanted looks. Quite a couple actually got up from their chairs in desperate attempts to see him while singing, trying at the same time to not be visible for the entire public. It was so entertaining to watch the reaction of the members of the orchestra! And after Recondita they all started applauding. And yes, those were some totally awesome legatos and endlessly flowing lines, so I too was happy to drool along :-) (although if I were Floria I would have whacked this particularly impatient Mario over his curls with the paint brush he wouldn’t stop wriggling in her nose in self important demonstrations of busyness!)

The neck wringing and the admiring glances from the orchestra didn’t stop throughout the whole evening and there is nothing more special that watching people who know and like music fall under his spell :-)

So, yes, one more Tosca, but the first one where my favourite bit was Recondita armonia :-)


Pity for the overall not so great sound experience from those seats… However, I believe the sound is better anywhere else than in the orchestra stalls, so stay away from the expensive tickets if you can and you will probably get a better balanced and more homogenous sound.

The evening ended with more than 10 minutes long applause and the generalised siege on the stage door :-)


PS I'm afraid i don't have any pictures from the performance so all i am able to give you are some crappy shots taken with my mobile in the EMI shop window around the Oper, from the Arcadia shop windows where on Sunday they were organising a signing with JK ( which i didn't go to, was already on my way back) and from the Kaiser's tea room in the Staatsoper, which you get to see if you go to the guided tours, and which can also be rented out privately.

Tosca Zurich, it's not just about the music!

Note: all photos from direct links to the Zurich Opernhaus page http://www.opernhaus.ch/d/

Since I have seen two performances I will start with the impressions regarding the first one and then complete with the ones from the second, since it might be interesting to see how perceptions might change, or not, if you get a chance to inspect it closer :-)

Part I....

I’ll start with the musical bits, since it is probably what most of you would like to know about first.

It is a good performance and one can really sit back and enjoy the singing.

Jonas was good last night, maybe not as secure in the beginning, but definitely by the end of the night. He started off Recondita with a tiny bit of dust in the voice and the breathing in the long lines of the duet was a bit more laboured than usual. Not that it would be generally noticeable :-) very likely only audible if you heard him singing the role several times and have something to compare with. The spring air outside was full of pollen and spring things that trigger all kinds of allergic reactions and he felt it as well. I would also tip on the very dry wind and most of all on the hot-house inside!! That theatre is an oven! Extremely hot and very very dry. I don’t think I was ever as thirsty at the end of the night like yesterday, I felt like Manon in the desert! I could hardly speak, I can’t imagine how it must be for the singers. I wish they would think more about the singers and not only about the ladies flaunting their strapless dresses and bejewelled décolletés and turn the heating down quite a bit … (I’m quite willing to freeze a bit if it gives the singers more breathing space, after all I am used to the “fresh” air at the ROH, no chance of snoring or dozing audience there ;-) )

Anyways, by the end of the first act he seemed to have cleared his lungs and voice and from then on it flowed more flexible and agile. The Vittoria is quite something as he starts it off in the farthest corner of the stage and it reached me at the very back of the hall with incredible force. What I love about the way he does it, is that he keeps enough force left to drive the “carnefice” with a vengeance! It makes a perfect double whammy! One that few if any are capable of. The Vittoria is impressive because he stands next to the painting he made and Scarpia stole and then tore to shreds and smashes it down to stand on top of it to deliver the lines! Voice and stance deliver a perfect victorious image. And I always like the “carnefice” better than the Vittoria, and finally in Jonas I find somebody who gives them all the anger, the punch they require. His “Scarpia, carnefice! carnefice, carnefice,” gives an incredible sense of justice after all the torture. And he’s about the only one I ever heard with such good diction and control of his voice that you understand every single word there.

The third act was wonderful, I think he is mastering it better every time. Unfortunately I had a lady next to me who thought the wonderful prelude to “E lucevan” was a good moment to pop noisy candies! And in “dolci mani” her neighbour violently blew her nose! I did wish sudden death upon them… Of all the moments to be disruptive this was the worst! I am so glad I am going again and will prey for better neighbours next time. Because the third act is really beautifully staged, the stage is empty with just Mario and Tosca on it, first Mario alone and the lights really help you focus on them. The start is actually quite strange and intimidating. The stage is bare, and it looks as if you were on stage as well looking into the black emptiness of the hall with the audience in the background. And he stands at the back of the scenery, as if on the front of the stage staring into the blackness, then is lying down all alone on the floor as if dreaming an remembering both torture and his love for Tosca. Before the aria, as if in trance he energetically draws Tosca eye and half face on the wall, as if it is the last thing he wants to take with him out of life. I think it is a very touching idea and it is dual in a way, as due to the stage on the stage it makes you instantly think of how alone an artist really is there. How must he feel, left all to himself on stage, not really being able to see the audience in front. Very frightening. The Zurich stage is not a big one but it was very impressive how they managed to suggest the feeling of void and having to do a balancing act on the edge. Jonas also managed to convey a very touching feeling of fragility and frailness. Perfectly in tune with the softness and sensitive singing. I really believe he is better than last year in ROH. Maybe it is because he has more time to spend with the music and the character and really work out his own harmonies. In ROH it was already amazing what he managed to do, but what I hear now is more complete, it is more like a unique concept, than just some brilliant ideas. Now you have more power and force when required, but also more control of dynamics and variety thereof everywhere. It is not only the third act that you hear this, but from the very beginning. The Recondita and the duet with Tosca in the first Act are already more shaded. It never seizes to amaze me how lyrical and caressing his voice can be, or rather his singing can make the voice become. And since the Toscas in ROH, this has become more refined, more developed.

A pity Pappano is not in the pit, because Jonas was often carrying all the musicality and emotion in the score by himself. In ROH, as in the Butterfly as a matter of fact, I always had the feeling the music is like the wave the singers are surfing ( for lack of a better comparison…) The emotion came from music and voice together. While last night I often had the feeling I needed to hear Jonas singing to recognise the beauty of the musical line. The orchestra and conductor are by no means bad, but the music does not shine or move like something that is alive. I didn’t really get drawn in by the music, because it felt too much like background and it was often too indistinct. In ROH you were drowning in the music, it was so emotional. Yesterday they somehow left enough distance to observe bum notes, think about the hows and whys sounds happen.

Hampson I liked much better than I thought I would. When I read the reviews from he premiere I forgot how good an actor he is as well and I had the feeling that this is not really his role. But he does manage to own it fully. He has that sickening slickness and feels natural in the role. He is not a good guy trying to be bad, he is obsessed, greedy for everything, money, power, Tosca. And he manages not to overact it, there is fairly little movement or agitation, it is rather his contention that transmits the danger. And luckily he restrained from pushing too hard and the voice was warmer, rounder and the singing altogether more a pleasure to listen to than expected. Yes, there are the odd harsh edges here and there, but I think it is more the voice itself not being what it was 10 years ago. The lines are still beautiful and you could recognise there, just like with Jonas the liedersanger :-) However the voice is, he still has mostly very good control of it. He really owned the second act and I thought the applause he got in the end was well deserved.

Emily I liked as well, especially since her portrayal of Tosca was much less uni-dimensional the production had let me fear. She was adequately diva-ish but she also portrayed the woman in love quite credibly. I guess everyone interprets what they see their own way, for me she was much more a woman of passions who has to live up to her diva image, than a diva who is so self-absorbed that everything and everywhere is a stage ( as comments of the production previously suggested). She has a thrilling top and her voice has nice colours…. Unfortunately yesterday I felt like her lower register hadn’t really showed up for the night :-( There are so many lines for Tosca that sit there or end there for greater emphasis and those were just a bit hollow… It is not the end of the world, and maybe she too was suffering from the dryness and high temperature. Also, she is the one who has to be in constant movement around the stage, flowing around the men who benefit from more limited activity. And that really needs to be said, she has very gracious movements, just on the right side of theatrical for the portrayal of the role. And this makes dramatic singing while doing it all the more difficult. It would be very unfair to her not to recognise her performance just because one wishes that all that colour in her voice would extend to her lower register as well. I liked her and I felt emotionally drawn to her Tosca, while I didn’t expect to be from what I had read about the production.

There are many interesting images in the performance: Scarpia appearing from behind big columns like Mephistopheles, Mario singing in from of the painting, with the light spot on the madonna, The Vittoria on top of the shredded painting, Tosca pinned to the wall by Scarpia and a bright lightspot, which takes the horror-like image to extreme, Tosca singing Visi d’arte at the border of the stage with the rest darkened and only the golden sides of the stage lit (really draws out the image of a diva singing an aria on stage for the captivated public, beautiful!), Mario alone at the beginning of act 3 and Tosca’s eye looking upon the stage from his drawing , Tosca throwing herself from a lightspot on stage into the darkness in front of the imaginary stage. It is all very striking visually. Still I am not sure what I think of the production itself, it’s not totally different or unexpected. The image in the first act with the empty chairs arranged for the audience to attend the performance is interesting and on the empty stage effective, but once Mario, Tosca and later the chorus and Scarpia start moving in between them it becomes slightly ridiculous. Because the movements and interaction of the persons get severely hindered by the constant bumping into the chairs. Mario and Tosca especially have to keep ducking the chairs, sit on one, stand up to follow the other, sit again on another chair, poor Tosca keeps swishing her skirts in between chairs, which constantly interrupts the lovely interaction and leaves the lovers pinned to the wall in a rather less romantic fashion sometimes ;-) And then the audience/chorus turns towards us and with their back to their own stage which they are supposed to be watching for the Te deum. Understandably, they have to watch the conductor, but it totally spoils the effect of watching an audience who is in turn watching another stage. Under the circumstances, bare is better and I definitely like act 2 and 3 more.

I haven’t made up my mind fully about the production and I am not sure if I didn’t feel as emotionally connected to the performance last night because of the staging - which creates a certain distance because you are observing a stage on a stage -, or because I wish the music would have been more engaging or because I had noisy neighbours and was sitting in a back corner of the hall or just because of me :-) Most likely it is because of my own self. I am really looking forward to seeing it again and with all surprises now revealed I might get a better chance at letting myself get totally sucked into the music :-)

End of part I…

So how did it work out the second time around?

I liked Carignani better than last time but I am still slightly out off by the very brassy sound of the orchestra, which I am still unable to tell if due to the huge open pit for such a small house or simply to much brass-contribution… Still this time round I didn’t miss Pappano quite as much :-)

The performance was recorded for the local TV or maybe for a DVD and I am really looking forward because musically it was excellent! In spite of Hampson having had to pull out a couple of days before due to throat ache he was back in form and there were no significant audible signs of the illness other than a bit of strain in the second act on the more powerful phrases. Both he and Emily gave it their absolute all in terms of engagement this night and if this translated into small instances of vocal fatigue, the performance overall was all worth it. And them I could see very well and enjoy accordingly.

Unfortunately I had the bad idea to go for a second row seat in a loge on the 1st Rang. Advice to all Zurich visitors: do NOT go for these, stay as far away from the 2nd rows in loges as you can. Don’t be deceived by the lower price, the visibility is strongly impaired by the decorating baroque columns and you are squeezed among 3 high stools. The only positive point is that after some 20 min your legs will have gone to sleep and your back as well and you won’t feel any pain anymore…. Double bad luck for me, the action is strongly left-sided, at least what Mario is concerned so I had two choices: either breathing down the rich necks of the sitters in the front seats of the loge and risk toppling over rather un-elegantly from my high stool or lean back and close my eyes ( since I couldn’t see half the stage anyway) and just enjoy the singing. The latter proved after some initial struggle with balance and neck-twisting the better option. But I had to peek at least at the beginning just to be 100% sure it wasn’t some recording I was hearing and Jonas was just amazingly moving his lips to it… I mean I like his voice ( Duh! ) but I know it is not perfect or completely smooth. This night however he was not only in good form, he was in excellent form and his usually amazing control over his instrument was toned to perfection. Sometimes I look forward to the flow of the voice just for the excitement of the unknown where it will lead him. Tonight it was somehow totally different. The voce just flowed with such easiness and was conducted with such intent and grace I actually stretched around the column to see if he was breathing and then had to lean back with a satisfied and amazed smile. It is quite something to enjoy a performance totally relaxed, having a feeling of absolute certainty that whatever you would hear next would be the exact line the singers intends it to be. Of course I know there is no such thing in singing, that it is unpredictable. However I believe there are nights when the singer is in total sink with his voice and it does respond to his will and desire perfectly. Must be quite a powerful feeling that one, like Harry Potter wielding his magic wand ;-) I was obviously delighted to receive such a treat but also to watch and hear how it is done.

You would be wrong to think however that such musical quality would come at the expense of feeling and expression. Quite the contrary, it is probably why and how the voice was so powerful the other night. And not only his, but everyone’s.

I don’t know if Carsen’s production is an excellent one, the visuals I mentioned before were just as effective the second time around, so they are brilliant indeed. I am still annoyed by some elements in the first act as for me they don’t add much to the interpretation, but they can be ignored with no impact.

It is however not a Tosca to floor you or shock you, but I now believe it is not meant to do that. The music and the plot itself do that effectively enough, there is no need to overkill it. Nor is there actually much room to change Tosca fundamentally. Why would you even want it? Why change a story that in itself has perfect tension build up and strong drive. So if you can’t change Tosca, what can you do? Well, you can give it what few directors decide or care to: “Personenfuhrung”. The story is powerful, but it doesn’t mean that the characters are just there to deliver the lines. Yes Tosca has politics in it, but is really that what drives the plot? I think not, politics just provide the instruments, the backdrop and means for the human conflicts to explode. If you think about it, it is not about politics at all, but profound human emotions like love, greed, jealousy, desire, compassion. Scarpia has power in his hands but at the beginning of the story he can’t have the one thing he desires most: Floria Tosca. She on the other hand has a talented artist at her side, but in spite being the admired Diva is still an unsecure woman who doubts her lover and is plagued by jealousy. Mario is the enchanted lover, but he is also a liberal in his times and a profoundly good person, who cannot deny helping his friend, even is political engagement was never his priority. He actually tells us in Recondita armonia that his life is full with art and his love for Floria. The conflict unfolds when Scarpia recognises the opportunity to use Tosca’s jealousy and Mario’s attachment to Angelotti to finally achieve his goal, have Tosca to himself! He very effectively describes at the beginning of act 2 that he will use whatever means he can to indulge in what life has to offer.

So if we think about it, the story is not driven by external political events, but by the passions and flaws of the characters themselves. I think this is where Carsen was brilliant in his Tosca. He seemed to have sensed this and decided to put the personal conflicts in the foreground. Of course you can only do that if you have singers who are good and can spend equally as much time on creating their character as on perfecting their singing. Zurich got very lucky in this respect with Jonas Kaufmann as Mario, Thomas Hampson as Scarpia and Emily Magee as Tosca. They each managed to bring more colours and shades to their character.

I am glad I was right about Hampson... he made a natural evil and obsessed character, machiavellic indeed :-) His alternative displays of elegance, apparent friendliness and outbursts of anger, desire and almost sheer madness were chilling. Magee was perfect opponent and pray, with divaish dignity and charm but also with deeply moving femininity and anguish. The outer diva never completely overpowered the woman inside. The scenes in the 2nd act were even more compelling and captivating than the first time around. The scene where she dignified and with almost contempt takes off her dress to lie down on the shreds of Mario’s painting that Scarpia destroyed while he takes off his tie and jacket with a sickening slowness really gave me the chills.

And the whole 2nd act contrasted perfectly with the first and last, which were of unusual romantic character, due this time to the contribution of Jonas Kaufmann’s Mario. His Mario was less ironic and self-assured and just simply deeply in love with Tosca. So much so that he almost forgets about Angelotti stashed away in the hiding place in the church in the first act. In the last act his sadness and the sense of being alone is conveyed very touchingly by the way he rolls in his restless sleep while caressing the ground as if it were his Tosca. He feverishly tries to capture her image by drawing her eyes. The following duet with Tosca is the most romantic I have witnessed so far, reaching for the joy of reunion to the dream of a happy life to the endless sadness of realisation on his part that there is actually not going to be a happy end to their story. I don’t think his last “Parlami ancora come dianzi parlavi,
è così dolce il suon della tua voce!” was ever sung more emotionally than last night…


I don’t know how people see this Tosca if it was their first, but for me it was a fresh take with unexpected emotional engagement. And to touch me at this point with this opera beyond musical enjoyment is not an easy task :-) Over the last 12 months I have definitely overdosed on Puccini, and this one in particular, on top of the already existing overdose of years. It is not a Tosca of cheap thrills and in your face, it is more one where with beautiful singing and convincing portrayal of complex human emotions get you gradually enveloped and gently taken in. So I have a general feeling of warm satisfaction about it and if it does come out, I might even be persuaded to buy the DVD (if for nothing else than to prove that Puccini can be sung softly, tenderly and authentically romantic, with no cheese in sight!).

For a small video about the production see on the Zurich Opernhauspage under Opernhaus TV (http://opernhaustv.eviscomedia.com/media.1005.html)



So now it is time to lay Puccini to rest for a while and give my thirsty ears and eyes some well deserved treat of French and German music :-)

À bientôt, mes amis!

Tosca in Zurich..again and again...

Photo pinched from Klassikakzente.de ;-)...i guess it is a small preview of the upcoming Sehnsucht CD, which will appear on dear Wagner's birthday ( go google! :-p)

Anyways, i am just reserving the space for my thoughts about the Tosca, i've seen it once and tomorrow i will repeat so didn't want to say things i might not mean in the end :-)

More soon....