Search - Puccini, Maazel :: Tosca

The Tosca With The Most Character Integrity

03/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Opera fans will be more than satisfied with this studio recording dating from 1967 starring Birgit Nilsson as the larger than life Tosca, Franco Corelli as her lover Mario Cavaradossi and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the evil Baron Scarpia. Everything about this recording comes together with such blissful musical harmony and dramatic integrity that there is no recording that surpasses it, not even the much loved and talked about 50's Tosca with Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano and Tito Gobbi. This is the Tosca that takes the crown, regardless of the critics' constant bashing of Birgit Nilsson's "Wagnerian or Swedish" manner and lack of Italian fire. Conductor Lorin Maazel, no stranger to opera, delivers a sensational performance with brisk, dramatic tempo which works for this intense opera, suffusing the orchestra (the Academia De Santa Cecilia in Rome) with a broad palette of colors- lyricism, passion, beauty, subtlety, intensity, pure drama. This is one studio recording of two that are in circulation. The other is on another label and comes without libretto. This is the better of the two recordings of the same performance.



The singers are singing the hell out of their roles and effectively characterize them. I can't imagine any other tenor portraying Cavaradossi better than Franco Corelli. His accurate Italian diction and acting prowess, deep in his blood, shines with masculine bravura and sensitive artistic temperament. He is a patriot, a revolutionary, an idealist, a lover, an artist and all these qualities foam up through his voice and into his performance. On stage, he must have knocked them dead, even surpassing Di Stefano, aided also by the fact he was the sexiest tenor at the time. Corelli shines in such moments as his first big, expressive aria "Recondita Armonia..Dami colori" scene in which he is painting the Madonna/Virgin and thinking of his beloved Tosca. His notes are high and razor-sharp, and his middle voice effectively dramatic. This is "the artist". The "idealist/revolutionary" oozes in the scene in which he sings triumphantly "Vittoria Vitorria!" even after torture by Scarpia when his side seems to be winning politically. He is the lover in his duets with Tosca, the first in Act 1 and the one in the Jail Scene in the last act. The role of Cavardossi is quite frankly the most difficult in the Puccini tenor repertoire. It calls for a HUGE glass-shattering heroic tenor's voice (like Jon Vickers, Mario Del Monaco and Luciano Pavoratti) in the exultant exclamation arias and high notes, but also it is a lyric role, one which must be used with romantic finesse and genteel nobility. This is the voice of Placido Domingo, Richard Tucker or Nicolai Gedda. Placido Domingo has most effectively sung Cavaradossi in more recent times, making up for his lack of stentorian/Wagnerian voice, which is there but is not as powerful as his predecessors. He is actually a lot like Franco Corelli, who didn't have as big a voice as a Melchior, Vickers or Del Monaco, but pushed his voice and darkened it just enough to electify us.



Dietrich-Fischer Dieskau has been "bashed" by some as a weak Baron Scarpia. He isn't dramatic enough, he isn't as disgustingly wicked as we'd like him to be, the critics complained. He's better off singing Lieder. But where is it written that Scarpia has to be over-the-top or sung in such a slimy way ? Some baritones have enjoyed success by overdoing the wickedness in blatant manners- Samuel Ramey, Tito Gobbi, Justino Diaz, Cornell McNeil and Sherill Milnes. But Dieskau makes a more realistic Scarpia, and a far more sexier and subtle interpretation. Think of it this way. Some would claim that the reason Tosca killed Scarpia in that famous scene is because she had to kill her own desire for him. Like it or not, Scarpia was a powerful alpha male, with a lot of wealth and power over Rome (all Rome trembled before him says Tosca). He was an attractive man. It's not unlikely that Tosca felt some desire for him. But she knew that it would only be a fleeting thing and she wanted the genuine love of Mario which won out in the end. Dieskau uses his voice to portray the most realistic Scarpia ever recorded, closer to what Puccini and Victorien Sardu the playwright envisioned. And Dieskau does have moments in which he blows you away, like the Torture Scene and in his death scene.



Birgit Nilsson was one of the few Wagnerian sopranos who easily conquered the role of Tosca. While many will always think of her as Brunhilde or Isolde, she was quite accomplished in the interpretation of Puccini heroines- namely Tosca and Turandot. Her BIG voice nevertheless uses colors to capture the nuances of her character. Tosca is a diva, that is true, and the big, dramatic voice can convey this. Is she spoiled ? Yes. Is she jealous ? Yes. But she's also passionate, in a way that is even religious- "O, Scarpia Avanti A Dio!" (Scarpia, we shall meet before God!) are her final words. She alsp prays fervently at the Church and even scolds Mario for attemtping to kiss her before the altar. This same passion for God is manifested in her love for Mario, a love which she is even willing to die for. Now, while Birgit Nilsson (pronounced Bir-geet)does not have the rich, full, deep Italian voice and arsenal of both highs and lows like say Maria Callas and Leontyne Price, who were endowed with generous chest registers, she does try and we must give her credit for this. She darkens her voice at certain points (in the Torture Scene when she attacks Scarpia as a "demon" and uses chest register in the moment before Mario's Execution but it is not used too much elsewhere. In her high register, she's secure and stratospheric. Even God is sure to hear her as she leaps from the parapets of the Castle San Angeli at the end of the opera. Birgit Nilsson makes up for this lack of Italian fire with dramatic integrity. She has never acted better than she did in Tosca. Even as Brunhilde and Isolde she is purely a master in vocal terms, with lesser acting bravura, for she is quite calm in these roles. But as Tosca, she goes all out dramatically. I rather like her, even more so than Leontyne Price or Maria Callas, because she gets Tosca in a way that most sopanos don't. She comes to life and isn't the Swedish/Nordid "cold" goddess that some would have her to be. She is passionate and colorful as Tosca and I highly recommend her as anybody's first choice of first listening experience as Tosca. She ranks up there with the far more acclaimed Maria Callas. Make no mistake about that. Even Callas would have applauded Birgit Nilsson as Tosca.







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