Tosca on the edge

Tosca - Royal Opera House, 6 March 2013

Maurizio Benini clearly knows his way round the score, but spoilt Covent Garden regulars will miss the detail, the variety and the sheer passion that Pappano brings to Tosca. What looked on paper like a routine revival of a warhorse production was instead elevated to the extraordinary by the powerful performances of its central cast.

Amanda Echalaz was an stunning Tosca even back at the start of her career in 2006 with English Touring Opera. Now, with Opera Holland Park, ENO and many international appearances to her credit, she inhabits the role like nobody else I've seen, with detail and meaning in every syllable. Any former vocal unwieldiness is totally gone.  Her big, steely voice is at her command from the gentlest pianissimo right up to its impressive full power.

Few sparks flew between Echalaz and Massimo Giordano's Cavaradossi, but there was chemistry to spare with Michael Volle's sadistic Scarpia. The second act's cat-and-mouse manipulations were grippingly calibrated. Giordano's ardent, unforced tenor convinced in places where his acting didn't, but he often gave the impression of someone who'd wandered in without rehearsal (and this was the third show of the run).

Unlike Richard Eyre's thoughtful La traviata, Jonathan Kent's Tosca yields nothing more on repeated visits. If anything, its faults become more apparent. Constricted sets and poor sightlines are far more of a problem here than in recent ROH productions criticised on those grounds - perhaps audiences are too numbed by the comforting predictability to notice?

production photos (above) Tristram Kenton/Royal Opera House

curtain call photos (below) www.intermezzo.typepad.com

And here is a curtain call video from Kyoko - the 2 March performance, but the same cast: