|
OPERA REVIEW
A Weak Tosca October 23, 2001
|
By John Bailey
You know something isn't quite right when you attend a performance of Puccini's Tosca and find yourself rooting for the bad guy. Even though Scarpia is one of the nastiest villians in all of opera, Franz Grundheber's performance in Tuesday's opening with the San Francisco Opera eclipsed those of his peers and commanded the stage.
Eva Urbanova, in her company debut, sang the role of the title character but did very little to make this role her own. She generally sang well throughout the opera, with a pleasant, well supported tone, but she never took the dramatic or vocal risks that provide Tosca's character the necessary depth to captivate an audience. Her rendition of the famous second act aria “Vissi d'arte” was certainly sung beautifully, but lacked a sense of coherent musical phrasing. I couldn't help feeling that Urbanova has yet to discover Tosca's true character, and how this aria fits into the whole architecture of the opera's plot. Her motivations were unclear throughout the entire opera, most unfortunately in the events which lead up to her murder of Scarpia.
The audience needs to see the progression from the pitiful woman, on her knees begging the Lord for help, to the vengeful murderess who watches Scarpia die, saying “Is your blood choking you? Die accursed!” The audience needs to see the crucial, pivotal moment when Tosca sees the knife — a small yet important detail which leads to all that follows. After the murder, when Urbanova searches through the papers on Scarpia's desk, trying to find the safe conduct pass, it was unclear that she couldn't find it. This, too, is such an important moment, since it is impossible for the lovers to escape without the pass. It also is what forces Tosca to approach the dead man's body to pull the pass from his lifeless hand. I may be too idealistic, but what is opera without the drama?
Richard Leech has been one of the better tenors on the opera stage in the past decade. But his performance as Cavaradossi was marked by inconsistent vocal quality and control, from his opening aria “Recondita armonia,” where his voice sounded raw and strained, to his last “E lucevan le stelle,” in which he ran out of breath on the penultimate phrase. It is so difficult to hear some of the most beloved arias in all of opera sung without the complete attention to phrasing and text which the music demands. Franz Grundheber's performance was unquestionably enjoyable. Putting the evening in perspective, he probably is not the ideal Scarpia, but he made up for whatever effort, dramatically and vocally, the other lead roles lacked. In the first act he exuded just the right amount of charm to trick Tosca into believing that Cavaradossi had been unfaithful to her, and provided all the egotism and sadistic edge necessary in the second act, concluding with a vivid and believable death. Other roles were filled well — Joseph Frank as Spoletta, Stanislaw Schwets as Angelotti, Kwang Shik Pang as Sciarrone and Peter Strummer standing out as the comical Sacristan. Conductor Paolo Carignani, making his American debut, brought out all the colorful shadings of Puccini's orchestration. He brought wonderfully lush sounds from the orchestra, which occasionally became too loud to be called an accompaniment. But such competence on the podium is to be saluted, and the usual splendid playing from the pit often deserves more attention, though not at the expense of the singers onstage. It was also a pleasure to witness Thierry Bosquet's re-creation of the original 1932 sets and costumes designed by Armando Agnini (although the costumes were not so flattering to Urbanova's frame), combined with Sandra Bernhard's faithful staging. The entire feel of the opera was more akin to that of a time in opera's rich past, and one closer to Puccini's own time. It is just as important to have “traditional” productions as it is to have those which are “new” and “innovative”.
(John Kendall Bailey is the founder and music director of the Berkeley Lyric Opera, a conductor, composer, lecturer, oboist, and pianist.) ©2001 John Bailey, all rights reserved |
