Puccini: Tosca - CD

“Riccardo Muti takes his time with Tosca, but it's worth the wait for Maria Guleghina's 'Vissi d'arte'.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ***

“With all three principals the clarity of words adds to the power of this Pappano performance, most strikingly with Gheorghiu, who constantly sheds new light on one phrase after another...a great performance, significantly expanding on what we already know of her, as magnetic as Callas's, rich and beautiful as well as dramatic...a classic among the many versions of this opera.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“Tebaldi's voice is remarkably fresh and secure, with all five high Cs in place and offering no problems, the registers perfectly knit and the sound grand, beautiful and womanly...Gobbi, is, of course, sui generis. From his opening, snarling statement in church, through his lascivious, sneering 'Ebbene' and disgusting 'Tosca, finalmente mia' and even beyond, he terrifies.” International Record Review, July 2011

“Tebaldi's heady tone is equal to every one of the role's musical demands, while dramatically she proves an engaged and potent heroine...[Gobbi's Scarpia] as always is dramatically thrilling; though not the greatest voice for the brutal police chief, Gobbi's baritone arguably provides more theatrical frisson than any other exponent. Francesco Molinari-Pradelli is an idiomatic conductor of very respectable forces.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 ***

“in 1953 [Callas] is caught at her peak, her voice perfectly under control and the characteristic insights she brought to its tiniest details fully developed...[de Sabata's] combination of fire and clarity make this the most exciting Tosca on disc...Opera sets rarely get absolutely everything right; this one does.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012

“There has never been a finer recorded performance of Tosca...Gobbi makes the unbelievably villainous police chief into a genuine three-dimensional character, and Di Stefano...was at his finest...The conducting of De Sabata is spaciously lyrical as well as sharply dramatic...it brings a transfer which, taken from the original tapes, has the voices brighter and more immediate than on the Naxos set.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“In most respects a thrilling set, above all for Domingo's best recorded Cavaradossi. Scotto is ardent but strained, Bruson a bit bland, but sparks do fly.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 ****

“It is a joy to hear Puccini's orchestration ... brought out with such precision ... Karajan's impressiveness consists of more than drawing brilliant playing from the Vienna Philharmonic ... [his] control of tension shows itself at its most impressive ... Price pours forth a flood of rich, glorious tone and her attention to detail is exemplary” Gramophone Magazine

“It remains one of the finest versions, with Leontyne Price at the peak of her form and Di Stefano singing most sensitively. But Karajan deserves equal credit with the principal singers, and the sound is first class.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ****

“In this remastering of one of the classic performances of the gramophone, one of Walter Legge's masterpieces as a creative recording producer, you barely miss stereo recording. With offstage effects for example – so important in Puccini – precisely placed, there is a sense of presence normally reserved for twin-channel reproduction. In the long duet between Tosca and Cavaradossi in Act 3 you can even detect a difference of placing between the two singers, Callas set at a slight distance, though whether or not to offset a microphone problem with so biting a voice one can only guess. The immediacy is astonishing, and the great moment of the execution with trombones rasping and the fusillade reproduced at a true fortissimo has never been represented on record with greater impact. The contrasts of timbre are beautifully brought out – amazingly wide with Gobbi as with Callas and with di Stefano producing his most honeyed tones. Though there is less space in the Milan acoustic than we have grown used to in the age of stereo, the separation of voices and orchestra is excellent, with the strands of the accompaniment to 'Vissi d'arte', for example, finely clarified. Only in the big Te Deum scene at the end of Act 1 is there a hint of overloading.
Wonderful as Gobbi's and di Stefano's performances are, and superbly dramatic as de Sabata's conducting is, it is the performance of the unique Callas in the title-role that provides the greatest marvel, and here more than ever one registers the facial changes implied in each phrase, with occasional hints of a chuckle (usually ironic) more apparent than on LP. A truly Great Recording of the last Century which is available in numerous guises. Naxos's transfer is particularly impressive, but if you want top-class supporting material, the mid-price EMI is the one to go for.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010