Tosca

Time Out says

Fri Mar 8 2013

Often described as a ‘shabby little shocker’, Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ is a tale of high emotions, dark deeds and a duplicitousness that leads to tragedy; a powerful and moving story, it is told to beautiful and stirring music.

Tosca herself, first name Floria, is a singer. Principled and loyal, she is loving if feisty, and not without a jealous side. She is suspicious of her beau Mario Cavaradossi’s faithfulness. Their amorous relationship, however, is put asunder by the corrupt and ruthless chief of police, Scarpia, who wants Tosca for himself and is after Angelotti, an escaped prisoner that Cavaradossi has befriended. In many ways, the tall and muscular Michael Volle steals the show as this black-hearted sadist by playing him straight with deep and hefty vocals; an insinuation of evil rather than an overt one as he feeds Tosca’s suspicions and toys with her.

In act two, Cavaradossi is tortured within earshot of his beloved. Tosca then praises art and love in a hit aria, and lists her own kindnesses before Scarpia meets a bloody stabbing at her hands. This act was engrossing in the first-night revival of Jonathan Kent’s handsome 2006 production (surely inspired by sculptor Andrew Sinclair). Amanda Echalaz (now singing the title role in Italian following a stint at ENO) gives a vivid portrayal of the artiste, capturing Tosca’s many moods, not least her dedication to decency and passion for Cavaradossi – the latter part taken openly and honestly by tenor Massimo Giordano, if with limitations of colour and some problems with top notes.

Of equal importance is the conducting. One of Royal Opera’s regular guests, Maurizio Benini paces it all perfectly for both dramatic intensity and symphonic awareness, supporting the singers and giving full vent to the orchestra’s heady narrative. Colin Anderson