Director, Jonathan Kent; Revival Director, Amy Lane; Designer, Paul Brown, conductor Marco Amiliato. Cast – Floria Tosca: Angela Gheorghiu; Mario Cavaradossi: Stefan Pop; Baron Scarpia: Michael Volle; Spoletta: Aled Hall; Cesare Angelotti: Chuma Sijeqa
I last saw this production about 4 years ago. Like Rigoletto, there is only a limited amount a production team can do (with? to?) Tosca – you basically have to ensure the story is told well. In this production, the sets are realistic, heavy and built to last. They are dimly lit, but I suppose that’s OK in a church, a candle lit house and a fort before dawn…There’s not much sense of interventionist directing but all three of the principals knew their way well enough around their roles for this not to be bothering, and were all very credible. Everything on stage seemed very smooth and nothing was out of place.
I haven’t seen Angela Gheorgiou live before, and, given that her ROHCG debut was 30 years ago, I wanted to be sure I had had the chance to see and hear her live before it was too late, putting it delicately. I have to say I was very impressed. While loud top notes can now sound a bit frayed and wobbly, a lot of her soft singing is beautiful, and she has a wonderful way of articulating the text and pointing her words. Vissi d’Arte sounded very good indeed. She also has the passion and fire for the role in how she moves, how she projects the text and how she sings it – she has that indefinable sense of presence on stage that all great singers have. Tosca is a role I would imagine it is possible to go over the top in, but this was a gripping rendition that could also be quite funny at times in the first act, and never crashed over into melodrama. Stefan Pop, a fellow Rumanian, had a great voice but was not terribly gripping as an actor, conveyed little sense of passion, and didn’t do much out of the ordinary as a singer – but did very well indeed within the confines of an ‘international – standard Cavaradossi’ presentation. Michael Volle I’ve only heard once live before, as Hans Sachs in Bayreuth in 2017. He seems to be extraordinarily hard-working – I see his name everywhere. He was appropriately dominating and threatening as a presence – maybe not much subtlety of approach to musical nuancing but arguably Scarpia isn’t that kind of guy…..
If I was less than overwhelmed by this performance it was because I thought the conductor was a bit over-leisurely with his tempi. I haven’t come across Marco Amiliato before, but he is clearly a very experienced conductor of the Italian repertory, and has been working at ROHCG and the Met for about 20 years. Some of his tempi brought out shades and aspects of the music I hadn’t remembered, but somehow there wasn’t the vibrancy and the tension that you need in Act 2, and the orchestra sometimes sounded a little genteel, surely inappropriate in this eminently vulgar work (and also not loud enough, but that could be the cushioned Covent Garden acoustics)……Ms Gheorgiou seemed to be having lots of problems in moving around in her dresses and shoes, something I hope the costumes department sorts out. The other slight irritant is the silly habit English audiences have got into over the last decade or so in boo-ing the villain in the curtain calls as though it were a pantomime. No great harm I suppose but it must be very disconcerting for a foreign artist if no-one has explained to them what is happening, and…..where does it stop? – are people going to start booing Klingsor?
I’m glad I went but it wasn’t quite the experience it could have been – all 5 performances are completely sold out, so I hope some more electricity is generated during the run
John's musical journey 