Search - Puccini - Tosca / Morandi, Patane, Cura on DVD

An excellent Tosca.

N. Gallimore | Upminster United Kingdom | 06/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best Tosca yet available on DVD, the conducting is very good and the production very convincing. Jose Cura redeems his lacklustr Manrico at Covent Garden a few weeks ago and sings a role that could have been written for him. His interpretation of Cavarodossi is sensationally perfect, I can see why Tosca is jealous in Act I. I suspect that she isn't this Cavarodossi's only conquest, and she knows it. He looks good, acts well, and sings like an angel, his "E lucevan le stelle" is perfection personified. He is the best Cavarodossi I have ever seen or heard and I cannot believe Roberto Alagna will any where near rival him in the forthcoming DVD.Scarpia, alias Renato Bruson, is about as perfect as you are ever likely to come across. His voice is a bit ragged around the edges these days but he uses it to great effect and his acting is exemplary. I am totally convinced by his monstrous portrayal of arguably one of operas most evil and nasty characters.I hadn't heard of Francesca Patane, and in the singing class she isn't in the same league as her two protagonists, but her acting is very convincing. So much so that both my wife and I you can forgive her vocal failings. She has obviously studied Maria Callas' interpretation, but she goes sharp on many ocassions and has difficulty with Tosca's demanding tessitura. But this shouldn't deter you, nor the missed notes in "Vissi d'arte". Her acting pulls her through and whereas she will be no competition for Angela Gheorghui (whose DVD is eagerly awaited) this recording will sit happily in your collection.By the way, Spoletta is the best I have ever seen too, whilst Angelloti is just your run of the mill melodramatic ham.I think this is the best Tosca I have seen on video or DVD, and whilst I eagerly await the film version with the Covent Garden orchestra, I cannot think we will ever abandon this version. Which is more than I can say for the Met's or Domingo's other two film versions. Go for Cura every time."

Technical disappointments

08/06/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I can't recommend this DVD very highly because of two technical failures, one important, the other merely annoying. It is hugely disappointing to find that a performance such as this with so much artistic talent at so many levels in a work as complex as opera is, is so basically flawed by a simple technical goof. The portable microphone used to record Patane's voice (Tosca herself) is faulty, so the result is that her voice throughout has a tinny quality that simply ruins her performance. For me, an absolute catastrophe. The other voices and the orchestra come across superbly (although I agree that Renato Bruson (Scarpia) has problems at his age controlling an unpleasantly wide vibrato on the higher notes.) Now I have a high quality audio set, but even on a run-of-the-mill system, it couldn't sound good. Terrible error which would have required dubbing or re-recording. Instead, the faulty product went on the market, and I bought it, to my disappointment. Buyer beware. The second technical fault is the NUMEROUS silly spelling and capitalization errors in the English sub-titles. It is simply astounding to think that such basic errors could be missed at the technical level. I won't forgive the audio problem being passed along to the buyer. So how could I in honesty recommend it to others?"

Not the best, but very good.

Giacomo | 06/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is not a flawless Tosca, but overall it is a completely enjoyable performance.
José Cura sings the best Cavaradossi available nowadays, with a voice which is impressive itself, big, dark and atractive. His interpretative skills here are awesome, and he passes from the ardour of the great spinto and dramatic tenors of the past in this repertoire (and his e lucevan le stelle receives a deserved ovation)to a subtle and colourfull singing, with remarkable attempts to caress some phrases in a soft mezza voce (his rendition of oh dolci mani is simply beautiful), and usually trying to be careful with the singing line, as well as with the dramatic intention.
If Cura has never been able to completely understand Verdi, here in Puccini (as he does in verismo roles) he shows himself as a top class singer. And while he has some technical problems, as taking high notes from below (anyway, nobody's perfect, even some of the greatest singers abused of portamenti), there are enough good and thrilling things in his singing as to enjoy the performance. He is a much more sensitive and intelligent interpreter than most dramatic tenors.
Tosca is sung by Francesca Patané, and she is not bad. In my opinion, she tries to copy Maria Callas too much (in the emission, the vibrato, even the bad things), her timbre is a bit metallic, and her chest register is not very strong and thus the low notes are not exactly remarkable, but anyway she offers interesting moments, and her performance is not bad at all, although perhaps I would prefer hearing her in some other roles, less taxing than Tosca.The conduction of the orchestra flows without huge evident problems and we can see a beautiful traditional staging.
Absolutely worth listening and seeing."

Poor Audio and Mostly Poor Singing

Giacomo | 09/04/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"What was good? Jose Cura. What was bad? Just about everything else. It is amazing that audio recordings this bad actually get to market. When played in 5.1 there is way too much sound coming from the rear speakers. The voices are over recorded to the point where distortion occurs on higher and louder notes. As far as the singing is concerned, it is laughable to suggest the role of Tosca could have been written for Patane. Just not a pleasant sound. Bruson may have once been a good Scarpia but he is definately sounding over the hill at this point."