Puccini's Tosca

[Franco]

I am strongly considering the CD (not the DVD) of this Tosca.  I have not bought a new Tosca in a long time, is the Gheorghiu, Alagna, Raimondi, Antonio Pappano really the new standard as many commentators seem to think?

I've seen a few clips and she is very impressive.  This would be my first purchase of her in any role.

[Tsaraslondon]

I am strongly considering the CD (not the DVD) of this Tosca.  I have not bought a new Tosca in a long time, is the Gheorghiu, Alagna, Raimondi, Antonio Pappano really the new standard as many commentators seem to think?

I've seen a few clips and she is very impressive.  This would be my first purchase of her in any role.

I don't know the performance well enough to be able to recommend it. I've heard snippets, which sounded pretty good, and I caught the last 2 acts of the film when they showed it on BBC4 recently. However, I can't tell you if it will stand the test of time as the Callas/De Sabata and Price/Karajan versions have.

[DarkAngel]

I am strongly considering the CD (not the DVD) of this Tosca.  I have not bought a new Tosca in a long time, is the Gheorghiu, Alagna, Raimondi, Antonio Pappano really the new standard as many commentators seem to think?

I've seen a few clips and she is very impressive.  This would be my first purchase of her in any role.

I have the DVD..........
I would not call it a new standard of performance, especially compared to classic Callas and others.
What you get is a physically beautiful AG as Tosca with great modern picture quality and sound. This is a movie version with some dreamy visual artistic effects added like fades and cut aways to actual recording sessions for film with Papano conducting and singers recording thier parts.....not as disjointed as it sounds, actually pretty interesting effect. Angela's actings skills are quite good and she is very photogenic.

If you own 2-3 Tosca DVDs this should be one, youtube has many extended samples to check out......

I will recommend another absolutely delightful DVD with Angela Gheorghiu:

[Tsaraslondon]

I have the DVD..........
I would not call it a new standard of performance, especially compared to classic Callas and others.
What you get is a physically beautiful AG as Tosca with great modern picture quality and sound. This is a movie version with some dreamy visual artistic effects added like fades and cut aways to actual recording sessions for film with Papano conducting and singers recording thier parts.....not as disjointed as it sounds, actually pretty interesting effect. Angela's actings skills are quite good and she is very photogenic.

If you own 2-3 Tosca DVDs this should be one, youtube has many extended samples to check out......

I will recommend another absolutely delightful DVD with Angela Gheorghiu:

I saw Gheorghiu as Adina at Covent Garden, some years ago. I thought she was terrific.

I almost bought the CDs of this performance when I added a L'Elisir d'Amore to my collection a few years back, but in the end, went with what I knew from my LP days and bought the Cotrubas/Domingo version. Perhaps I should get the DVD to make up for it.

[knight66]

I am strongly considering the CD (not the DVD) of this Tosca.  I have not bought a new Tosca in a long time, is the Gheorghiu, Alagna, Raimondi, Antonio Pappano really the new standard as many commentators seem to think?

I've seen a few clips and she is very impressive.  This would be my first purchase of her in any role.

I urge you to explore Gheorghiu's recordings. Forget the hype, she is a terrific singer and a more than average actor with the voice.

You specified the CDs, I have them and feel it is the most successful version of the opera in the last 30 years. I would not want to be without Callas or Leontine Price with Karajan or Vishnevskaya. But all round excellence places this Pappano version high on my list.

Mike

[Franco]

I urge you to explore Gheorghiu's recordings. Forget the hype, she is a terrific singer and a more than average actor with the voice.

You specified the CDs, I have them and feel it is the most successful version of the opera in the last 30 years. I would not want to be without Callas or Leontine Price with Karajan or Vishnevskaya. But all round excellence places this Pappano version high on my list.

Mike

Thanks for your comments.  I felt it was a very good performance and wanted to check my reaction with others since I too was thinking along the lines of the best since Callas but the DVD does not interest me because of how it was produced, as a movie instead of a filmed live performance.

[TheGSMoeller]

My 3 year-old was watching Happy Feet 2 the other day, I was amused with this scene. I wasn't aware Puccini wrote a piece for the film. 



http://www.youtube.com/v/jQPL3K0pGQw&sns=em