Review Roundup: Critics Weigh In On Netrebko In TOSCA at The Met

Sir David McVicar's "smashing new production" is "a grand triumph" (Huffington Post), offering a splendid backdrop for two extraordinary sopranos sharing the title role of the jealous prima donna: Sonya Yoncheva and Anna Netrebko. Vittorio Grigolo and Yusif Eyvazov alternate in the role of Tosca's revolutionary artist lover Cavaradossi, with Željko Lu?i? and Michael Volle as the depraved police chief Scarpia. Emmanuel Villaume and Bertrand de Billy share conducting duties

Puccini's melodrama about a volatile diva, a sadistic police chief, and an idealistic artist has offended and thrilled audiences for more than a century. Critics, for their part, have often had problems with Tosca's rather grungy subject matter, the directness and intensity of its score, and the crowd-pleasing dramatic opportunities it provides for its lead roles. But these same aspects have made Tosca one of a handful of iconic works that seem to represent opera in the public imagination. Tosca's popularity is further secured by a superb and exhilarating dramatic sweep, a driving score of abundant melody and theatrical shrewdness, and a career-defining title role.

The score of Tosca (if not the drama) itself is considered a prime example of the style of verismo, an elusive term usually translated as "realism." The typical musical features of the verismo tradition are prominent in Tosca: short arias with an uninhibited flood of raw melody, ambient sounds that blur the distinctions between life and art, and the use of parlato-words spoken instead of sung-at moments of tension.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Anthony Tommasini, NY Times: I can't remember when I've seen such a shattering performance of this opera's harrowing second act. When Mr. Volle's Scarpia questioned Tosca to find out where Mario had hidden the escaped prisoner Angelotti, Ms. Netrebko's Tosca proved not just a bad liar but a clueless innocent. Once she realized that Mario had been taken into a side chamber not just to be interrogated but to be tortured, Ms. Netrebko erupted with searing, frenzied horror.

Francisco Salazar, Opera Wire: In his duets with Netrebko, Eyvazov sung with tenderness and legato phrases that blended well with her soaring voice. His phrase "Quale occhio al mondo" in Act one started off with a warm mezzo forte tone rising to the soaring forte. It was passion at its fullest and it would only continue throughout the evening.

Eric C. Simpson, NY Classical Review: Bertrand de Billy's musical direction started off well enough, with a dark, bombastic flourish in the opening chords, but was uneven thereafter. The first act was oddly turgid, offering only a general soup of sound and nearly coming apart in Tosca and Scarpia's duet. The second had the opposite problem, its composition too watery to support the intense drama of the scene. He finally struck a balance in the third act, but even there, a little more brio would have helped the score reach its full dramatic power.

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