In fact for me only Iago's "I believe in a cruel god" from Otello is even more so. My favourite though will always be the te deum, a wonderful piece of music that is beautiful in melody but also contains one of the most chilling and blasphemous utterances in opera, "Tosca you made me forget God". And the music is magnificent, there is Recondita Armonia, E Lucevan le Stelle and Vissi D'Arte, every single one of those arias are powerful in their own right, and beautifully performed and sung, and the whole of act 2 is a real tour-de-force musically and dramatically. It is one of my absolute favourite operas, and most likely my favourite Puccini opera especially for Scarpia, a complex and extraordinary character who lives long into the memory. I agree completely with the previous reviewer, this production is most excellent and I can't tell you how many times I have seen it along with the other film versions/productions I've cited. If you find the visuals getting a bit much, you can always close your eyes – as said, this staging never sounds less than magnificent.This 1984 production is one of my favourite Toscas along with the 19 ones. Sonically it’s astonishing – Opera North’s chorus have long been one of the company’s glories – but the stage feels too crowded, Dick’s presumed points about the collusion between political power and organised religion too crudely made. Where things do go awry is at the close of Act 1, with Puccini’s dazzling mingling of sacred and profane becoming a Trumpian inauguration ceremony. Allen's backwards leap is a heartstopper. The balaclava-wearing firing squad are a menacing bunch, the final minutes genuinely alarming. Cavaradossi’s offstage torture is witnessed by Tosca via a laptop screen. Scarpia’s thuggish suited heavies are rightly terrifying, one carrying an ominous-looking briefcase. Angelotti’s orange costume suggests that he’s escaped from Guantanamo, and webcams and smartphones play their part. Rupert Charlesworth (pictured above right, with Hayward) plays sidekick Spoletta as a pallid, insipid fop, a hollow shell desperate for Scarpia’s approval.ĭick’s updates aren’t as intrusive as one might expect. Hayward invokes no sympathy whatsoever, a stentorian pantomime villain whose bloody demise is a real cause for relief, and whose post-show curtain call was greeted with a shower of loud boos and hisses. The second act places him in his element, in what resembles a naffly decorated hotel bedroom with too much black leather and shiny brass. Scarpia is Robert Hayward, here a menacing oaf. Roja’s physicality is impressive, his Cavaradossi changing size in front of our eyes: muscular, swaggering and confident in Act 1 and later, post-torture, a nervy, shrunken wreck. Importantly, both she and Roja can sing beautifully at high volume. Initially haughty and standoffish, she’s a winning stage presence, the occasional edge to her voice making her Tosca all the more human. Sacristan Matthew Stiff’s banter with Rafael Roja’s Cavaradossi is winning, and once Roja encounters Giselle Allen as Tosca we’re off. John Savournin’s Angelotti is first seen sliding down a rope into the church, scurrying off into a dark recess like a scared mouse. Lee Curran’s moody lighting designs help enormously. Designer Tom Scutt’s sets are effective, a giant Pantheon-like church dome suspended at various angles and initially illuminated with a heavenly host of tea lights. All of whom are exceptionally strong, each one a company veteran and sounding thoroughly at home. Nab a seat near the front of the stalls and hold on tight Hermus knows just how much he and his players can push the sound, understanding exactly what his leads are capable of. He’s helped by conductor Antony Hermus, making his Opera North debut and securing some terrific, full-throated orchestral playing, much of it at the upper end of the dynamic scale. #Tosca opera dvd update#Edward Dick’s 2017 Hansel and Gretel left me a little nonplussed, but this Tosca is miles better, a colourful update which manages to juggle plenty of schlock with sound artistic nous.
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