Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) [Enhanced]

Andrea Bocelli | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00008JL7Z
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,286 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #17 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > A to B > Bocelli, Andrea

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is Tosca lite. The role of the tenor lead, Mario Cavaradossi, is quite heavy and strenuous in Puccini’s score; in their primes, for instance, it suited the robust, darker tone of Placido Domingo over the slender, lighter sound of Luciano Pavarotti. Andrea Bocelli's voice is slenderer still--as the world knows, it's a beautiful pop singer's sound with an opera singer's top notes and feel. As a result, the orchestra in this brand new recording is kept pretty far in the background, and all of the soloists' voices are closely miked, with Bocelli's particularly forward. His fans will not mind the acoustic, and they probably also will bask in his still-lovely, ingratiating sound, despite some obvious strain (and, at times, off-pitch singing). His rendition of the famous last act aria, "E lucevan le stele," is ravishing--long-breathed, delicate, and sensitive without resorting to melodrama. As for the rest of the cast, Fiorenza Cedolins is an involved, if generic, Tosca who will not erase memories of Maria Callas, and baritone Carlo Guelfi sings the evil Baron Scarpia with an appropriate snarl. Zubin Mehta leads the orchestra in a reading which complements his tenor's style--there's more personal sadness than grand overstatement. This is for Bocelli fans--millions of them. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars To each his own, December 20, 2003

By 

adam,lorenzetti (Rome,Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) (Audio CD)

I'm very sorry but I disagree with almost all of the above reviewers,Andrea Bocelli has a beautiful voice and he also has a clear diction but he is simply NOT an opera singer. I'm italian and I saw him live in Bohème in Cagliari and even though a recording studio can do miracles he still is not capable of sustaining a full opera on stage.Therefor I find it very irritating,this could have been a very good recording because the rest of the cast is excellent and the fact that an international recording company decides to use an amateur just because he's famous is quite scandalous!!!!!!!!! Adam Lorenzetti

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing...., March 16, 2004

By 

"grobanitec" (Newport Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) (Audio CD)

This Tosca may be a digital stereo recording, but it doesn't hold a candle to any other Tosca, even those mono recording made by the great Callas. One problem which besets this opera is the fact that Bocelli is turned into the main star of the opera. This shouldn't be the case, as the main characters each must have their own time on spotlight. What the producers of this opera did was they blared all the audio when Bocelli came in and tuned down the sounds when other singers sang their lines. The orchestra was also barely audible, thus leeching the opera's dramatic effect. Any music listener knows that for any successful recording to be both vocally and dramatically effective, there must be a balance between both the artists and the orchestra. Zubin Mehta is an excellent conductor. His Turandot had the best orchestra every to rear its head into Puccini's Swan Song. I just don't know what happened to him here. Whether they are trying to get the light and slender voiced tenor to sing opera for dummies, I don't know. All I have to say is this Tosca is not recommended for those who wish to explore the best of the operatic realm. Whoever said that the best products don't really sell as opposed to those made by popular artists must be delusional if he thinks that this is good enough for the effort. Powerful? I don't think so. If you really want an impressive Tosca with a gorgeous cast, get the Freni-Domingo version by Deutsche Grammophone. Still, if you don't have an open mind and stubbornly insist that Bocelli is the greatest "opera" singer around, go ahead and order this Tosca.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome Addition, May 12, 2003

By 

Winnie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) (Audio CD)

Andrea Bocelli's singing in Tosca is marked by the ringing clarity of the individual notes and by the integrity and coherence of the whole. He is a resolute Cavaradossi, focused and involved.

This recording needs to be judged on its own merits and not on whether it is a carbon copy of Domingo's, Callas's, or anyone else's work. There is plenty of room for many interpretations of the opera, and most of us who love Bocelli and Cedolins' version are also great admirers of Domingo, Pavarotti, di Stefano, Callas, and countless others.

Those who dismiss Bocelli's opera work often parrot tired and disproved criticisms (for example, panning his phrasing, intonation, or style) instead of providing meaningful, fair, and accurate analysis based on their own careful and well-informed listening. In contrast, consider this quotation from Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer's January 26, 2003, review of Bocelli's Sentimento: "Most of the controversy about Bocelli feels bogus to this listener. He is not a pop singer who is inflicting an alien style on the operatic art. He became a pop star by accident, and he has used his pop-star clout to get the career he wanted all along (a career few thought he would ever have because of his disability). In fact he sings many operatic arias and semiclassical pieces with better phrasing and style than you hear from most other contemporary tenors."

Fiorenza Cedolins is an elegant, expressive Tosca with a graceful and beautiful voice. Cedolins, along with Carlo Guelfi and the others in the cast, contributes to a recording with dramatic depth that does justice to Puccini's thrilling music.