Customer Reviews

Puccini: Tosca (complete opera)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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

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.

The story of Tosca is a horrifying one. Jealousy, betrayal, torture, murder...The way this recording tells the story is stunning. The orchestra sounds rich, and reminds of the days of Von Karajan - a musical carpet in which the notes of the singers are embedded, a wonderful sound. Tosca herself, sung by Fiorenza Cedolins: a beautiful voice, warm, not too much vibrato, expressive...her Tosca is a living woman, jealous, coquette, emotional. Carlo Guelfi's Scarpia is a good choice. Scarpia snarls, but also addresses to Tosca in a velvet tone. Ildebrando d'Archangelo as Angelotti is also very convincing. And then: Cavaradossi. Sung by Andrea Bocelli. His Cavaradossi is a man who, politically involved, keeps his emotions in control. Don't expect loud sobs from this interpretation, they aren't there. The emotions certainly are, the passion is there, but...you really have to listen. Everything sung with great naturalness, this is a stunning portrayal of the character. All the other characters are filled in in a wonderful way, the singing is beautiful. And extra on this cd: The printed libretto is in english and italian, cd 2 has a libretto with english, french and german translations. The advantage of this: finally it's also possible for visual challenged people to read the libretto with their computer. If you are new to opera, this cd is a wonderful introduction. Otherwise, this cd is a nice contribution to your collection!

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.

I read many of the comments about people saying that they like Bocelli's Tosca even though they understand that it's not the real thing.

C'mon guys, can you say that Carlo Rossi (cheap jug wine) is a good wine after you've known some of the better ones? Worse yet, in this case this recording is even more expensive than the better recordings on the subject. I would definitively suggest that people listened to Callas-DiStefano on this opera (just to name one of the better ones) before saying that this is a good Tosca.

By the way, Pavarotti should have NEVER recorded Tosca; if you MUST listen to one of the three tenores on this one, go with Carreras, he's the least bad of the three.

What must be understood about this recording of Tosca is that it aims to please a certain type of audience, mainly fans of Bocelli's sound and style. So logically this Tosca was not produced for serious opera-going crowds, nor was it ever intended to be a serious contender to the numerous legendary versions of Tosca already out on the market. So for those wishing to listen to definitive, high-calibre Puccini, don't look for it here or bemoan the fact that this Tosca does not attempt to deliver on those goals.

The above must always be kept in mind. So discussing things like "real opera is not miked all over" or "he was laughed off at La Boheme" are totally meaningless things which have nothing to do with the ultimate success of his recordings. The fact is Bocelli's singing has mass appeal... by blending an alluring romantic "pop" sensibility to his sound while at the same time creating a serious-minded "opera-like" ambiance. Of course from a purely operatic viewpoint it is not an appropriate sound for opera, but that is not the point of its existence. Also a fact is for most average listeners, the top serious opera stars of yesterday and today have very very limited appeal regardless of how much vocally superior they are to Bocelli. So it's not so simple as comparing cheap product A to super quality product B and have everyone always choose the super quality product. If that were true, then only serious tenor recordings would just fly off the shelves and all other types of recordings would be left in a huge garbage heap. Yet the serious opera fans will continue to look at this from a serious-opera point of view, run off one legendary name after another and scratch their heads wondering why aren't these people instead rushing out and buying the entire catalougue of the real legends. The whole "Well if you love this guy, then naturally you will just fawn over THIS legend" concept just doesn't work all the time.

About this recording specifically, it has some good moments but I have to ask myself why choose this opera and especially why record ANY opera that hasn't been fully prepared and developed over time by the singer? I feel he can make a very unique interpretation with a few types of opera or songs but ONLY if he's given the right time to mature his interpretations and receives the right artistic direction and material. I've heard other full opera recordings by well known names that also failed in the end because of not enough experience in the roles, so Bocelli is no exception. No matter how good any tenor may be, dedicating very limited time to a work and with limited development of an opera role will lead to VERY inconsistant results.

And what is even more illogical is that this Tosca was recorded several years ago when Bocelli's technique was still developing and his experience with full-length opera roles and maturity were much less also... so logically this Tosca had an overall feeling of simple inexperience, like a "dry run" attempt at an entire work instead of a carefully prepared, matured interpretation... This is what I feel was a huge obstacle right away in this recording, NOT a complete lack of talent as some here have suggested.

Also, why this opera? Only because of its popularity? That is the real shame because I can imagine so many other operas better suited for Bocelli. At least with "La Boheme", Bocelli had studied the part and performed it on-stage various times for a few years. I seriously hope future recordings will be of lesser-known but more appropriate material. No Verdi or types of opera which require distinctive raw power.

Full bodied voices and dramatic interpretations make you feel as if you are living Tosca's jealousy and ardent love as well as Mario's courage and painful despair. This recording respectfully holds its place among the many Toscas recorded by various artists, with one refreshing and spectacular difference: Bocelli's poignant and moving rendition of "E lucevan le estelle", "Recondita armonia" and "O dolci mani". Many critics complain that Bocelli is a "light tenor", yet in this recording (as well as in his many others) Bocelli's range and powerful voice shine through, and at the same time he has the ability of a sweet and tender "lightness" that captures your heart when he sings "E lucevan le estelle"; his acute notes and modulation frames Caravadosi's painful sorrow, making it the listener's own. Fiorenza Cedolins voice is fresh and powerful. She is a wonderfully jealous and emotional Tosca. Her "Vissi di arte" is breathtaking. Carlo Guelfi's deep and resonate baritone gives Scarpia a layer of malevolence that is thrilling. This is a magnificent "Tosca" and I encourage all Puccini lovers not to miss adding this one to their opera collection. It is worth every single penny. Not only do you get a beautifully packaged cd set, a beautiful libretto with Italian, German, English and French lyrics but the libretto is also included in the second cd. This is opera at it's best with exceptional artists at the top of their game!

Of course, all the Bocelli fans will rave over this recording because their favorite is singing. Well, I am a fan of his, and have always been so, but in all truth, he is NOT an opera singer, and he adds nothing when it comes to the drama of a work. Beautiful singing is not enough with Puccini. There are many extremely unsteady parts in Bocelli's singing (and some completely out of pitch phrases where pitch is absolutely necessary), and in the most dramatic he is simply not noticeable at all. Yes, the lyric moments are lovely, and yes, he does caress the ear with his sound. However, we are not getting real drama in this recording, we are not witnessing Verismo at all. This "Shabby little shocker" wouldn't even raise our eyebrows. The other singers are only "serviceable" and nothing more. They are no more involved with the drama than Bocelli is. This recording has reduced TOSCA to nothing more than a series of "pretty songs." I gave the recording a four because it is beautiful, it is very pleasing to listen to, but it is not opera, it is not verismo, it is not Puccini, and none of the composers nuances of dramatic feeling are there.

I am getting tired of the "popularizing of opera" that recording companies are doing. To "win" over a new audience, they are having anyone who can get through the notes (even if badly) who is popular sing the roles. This is a shame, for that is not opera. One will not go to the opera theatre and have all the singers miked all over the place like popular and now broadway singers are miked. A little, but sweet and touching "crooner" will not do in opera, no matter how powerful the mikes. Opera is drama, living drama acted and sung before our eyes using the human voice in its naked natural state unaided by technical electronics. Of course, all recordings are false in a way, for we are not getting the raw human passions unedited. Operatic voices are meant to be unaided, and simply the talents and results of the singer and their training. No, real operatic voices don't caress the ears in your home; they would blast you out the door. No, their pianissimos that melt us to tears in the theatre would not sound small and quiet in our living rooms. Yet, we are being misled into thinking that such sweet crooners aided by microphones are what opera is all about, and people who are not the slightest bit familiar with opera as an art form are commenting on how wonderful a crooner is in these works that they wouldn't give the time of day to until their favorite crooner was recorded in them, are telling seasoned people who are well familiar with the art form, and have a very strong working knowledge about it that we have no clue what it should sound like. SHAME ON YOU, for your ignorance shines through. You may like the singers, you may enjoy what they do, for it fits into your idea of what "popular singing" is all about, but don't tell those of us who know this art form we don't know what we are talking about when we critisize the "very obvious flaws" we see and hear in such recordings. Bocelli is NOT an opera singer at all, and he will never be one; he was a laugh in Boheme when he sang in on stage. He should not record any more of it, nor should he listen to the recording companies when they offer him roles. He is not serving his career well. He is wonderful at what he does, so why not do it. Opera is not his thing. Sing an aria or two, and that is fine. Sing the entire work, and you display what resources you really don't have. I rate it as I do because Bocelli is trying to expand himself, and he still has a lovely voice (though not too certain anymore in the upper range), and I enjoyed it; but it is not opera, and it is not Puccini.

After a 2 years and one month wait this "Tosca" was well worth
waiting for. The entire cast is wonderful. Those of you on the fence about Bocelli, give "Tosca" a true listening keeping in mind he sings better today than he did 2 years ago. I heard him sing live and unamplified in 2003 and he now has the volume he lacked in the past. You can hear Franco Corelli's (his mentor's) influence clearly in "E lucevan le stella." Let us hope that an American opera company gives us an opportunity to see and hear this Italian tenor's Cavaradossi up close and personal.

We all have favorite artists.I don't know why we must always have comparisons.Each artist has flaws and strengths,each portrays their role in the manner that best suits them,their interpertation.Bocelli is classically trained and continues to train now.The changes in his voice are apparent in this CD,especially in the midrange,which is strong and with clean diction ,perfect,as usual. This Tosca was recorded two years ago.Had it been more recently recorded,I'm sure it would have been even better.What most opera directors look for when casting a role is not a cold technically perfect voice,but one that is able to identify with the character,sing the role and is able to communicate with the audience.Bocelli's voice is unique.He is a modern tenor with a very straightforward old style manner.He opens his mouth and sings.His main object is to sing as closely to the score as the composer wrote it. Like Pavarotti and Callas,you can hear two or three notes and know who is singing.The voice is so unique!I have several Toscas.This is the first one I have listened to and feel like I understand Mario.Usually there is so much drama in this opera that I find I must force myself to listen to it.Not with Bocelli.The second act is almost touching,the "le stelle" is gorgeous,the notes almost hang in the air.Celodins performance has star quality written all over it,tho at times she gets a tad bit shrill,Scarpia gets a bit heavy handed here and there,but such a voice!Many critics have given this recording a thumbs up,several giving the tenor,who for so long suffered from his huge success as a "pop or crossover"singer,that which he has worked so hard to achieve,legitimacy both on the opera stage and in opera/classical recordings,reviews that say "Bocelli sings this opera role as well as or better than most tenors"I personally find Bocelli's Mario a compelling listen,and I heartily recommend it for new and welleducated operaphiles.Please don't compare,just listen to the beauty of voces to be found on this CD.It's a keeper !!!!!!