Giacomo Puccini: Tosca
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Music CD Cover
Performer: Gottfried HornikComposer: Giacomo Puccini
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestra: Berlin State Opera Chorus
Orchestra: Schöneberger Sängerknaben
Performer: Katia Ricciarelli
Performer: Heinz Zednik
Performer: José Carreras
Performer: Wolfgang Bunten
Performer: Fernando Corena
Performer: Ruggero Raimondi
Performer: Victor von Halem
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1984-11-22
Music Label: Decca Import
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Act One: 'Ah! Finalmente!' - Gottfried Hormik/Fernando Corena/Jose Carreas
- Act One: 'Recondita armoni' - Jose Carreras/Fernando Corna
- Act One: 'Gente la dentro!' - Jose Carreras/Gottfried Hornik/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act One: 'Mario! Mario! Mario! - Katia Ricciarelli/Jose Carreras
- Act One: 'Ah, quegli occhi!'/'Qual occhio al mondo' - Katia Ricciarelli/Jose Carreras
- Act One: 'E buonala mia Tosca' - Jose Carreras/Gorrfried Hornik/Fernando Corena/Chor der Deutschen Oper Beliner/Karajan
- Act One: 'Un tal bacano in Chiesa!' - Ruggero Raimondi/Fernando Corena
- Act One: 'Tosca? Che non mi veda'/Mario? Mario?!' - Ruggero Raimondi/Katia Ricciarelli/Fernando Corena
- Act One: 'Ed io venivo a lui tutta dogliosa' - Katia Ricciarelli/Ruggero Raimondi
- Act One: Tre sbirri... Una corrozza...' - Fernando Corena/Heinz Zedmik
- Act Two: 'Tosca e un boun falco!' - Ruggero Raimondi/Victor Van Halem
- Act Two: 'Ha piu forte sapore' - Ruggero Raimondi/Victor Van Halem/Heinz Zedmik
- Act Two: 'Meno male!' - Ruggero Raimondi/Jose Carreras/Ghor der Deutschen Oper Berlin/Schoneberger Sangerknaben...
- Act Two: 'Dov'e Angelotti?' - Ruggero Raimondi/Jose Carreras/Heinz Zedmik/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Two: 'Ed or fra noi parliam da buoni amici' - Ruggero Raimondi/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Two: 'Scarrone: che dice il Cavalier?' - Ruggero Raimondi/Victor Van Halem/Katia Ricciarlli/Jose Carreras
- Act Two: 'Orsu, Tosca, parlate' - Ruggero Raimondi/Katia Ricciarelli/Jose Carreras/Heinz Zedmik
- Act Two: 'Nel pozzo...nel giardino...' - Katia Ricciarelli/Ruggero Raimondi/Victor Van Halem/Jose Carreras
- Act Two: 'Nel pozzo del giardino! Va, Spoletta!' - Ruggero Raimondi/Jose Carreras/Victor Van Halem
- Act Two: 'Se la giurata fede devo tradir' - Ruggero Raimondi/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Two: 'Vissi d'arte' - Katia Ricciarelli/Ruggero Raimondi
- Act Two: 'Vedi...le man giunte io stendo a te!' - Katia Ricciarelli/Ruggero Raimondi/Heinz Halem
- Act Two: 'E qual via scegliete?' - Ruggero Raimondi/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Three: 'Io de' sospiri te ne rimanno tanti' - Wolfgang Bunten
- Act Three: 'Mario Cavaradossi? A voi' - Victor Van Halem/Jose Carreras
- Act Three: 'E lucevan le stelle' - Jose Carreras
- Act Three: 'Franchigia a Floria Tosca...' - Jose Carreras/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Three: 'O dolci mani mansuete e pure' - Jose Carreras/Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Three: 'E non giungono...' - Katia Ricciarelli/Jose Carreras/Victor Van Halem
- Act Three: 'Come e lunga l'attesa!' - Katia Ricciarelli
- Act Three: 'Presto, su! Mario! Mario! Su, presto!' - Katia Ricciarelli/Victor Van Halem/Heinz Zedmik
Free Music Notes for Giacomo Puccini: Tosca
Free Music Review: One Of The Many Supreme Tosca Recordings
Hit: 5 Stars
The reviews for this album have been rather good, and the critic before me seems to be infatuated with the opera Tosca itself and the many fine sopranos who have performed the role in their career- Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Birgit Nilsson, Mirella Freni, Carol Vaness and Angela Gheorghiu. He also left out Hildegard Behrens and Eva Marton. All of these ladies have sung knock-out Toscas. But Katia Ricciarelli holds her own in this well-executed recording with a cast that interprets the opera with dynamic musicianship and beautiful voice, especially in the dream-team that was Katia Ricciarelli and Jose Carrerras. Luckily, these two were not just about producing beautiful tones, they truly immersed themselves into their characters with dramatic conviction. This duo is further quite noteworthy as opera's great lovers because during their careers, Jose Carrerras and Katia Ricciarelli were lovers, despite the fact Carrerras was married. Their affair was highly publicized. But even this "scandal" didn't stop fans from attending their incredible performances, the likes of which had not been seen since the old days of the great tenor/soprano dynamics in the singers like Di Stefano and Callas, Tebaldi and Corelli and Nilsson and Vickers. Carrerras and Ricciarelli joined the ranks of these great partners in the 80's, when they were singing all over the world and their career was in full bloom. On recordings, they are also powerfully dramatic and gorgeous to hear from a vocal point. Other fine studio recordings of theirs include an exceptional La Boheme and Il Trovatore.
Carrerras went through much in his personal life, even a bout with cancer. Despite his inner demons, he successfuly survived everything and came out on top. It was his idea to get together with Luciano Pavoratti and Placido Domingo (who were actually rivals) and form the 90's hit -The Three Tenors!! Carrerras is a humble, unassuming man, who made up for his stature by singing all the great Italian tenor roles, and as Cavaradossi he is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. He intones the character with passion, with intelligence, and with a kind of despair that he is himself familiar with. This is why his Cavaradossi is perhaps the most truthful. I have not heard Cavaradossi sung as great, except for the interpretations of Franco Corelli and Giuseppe Di Stefano and later on Domingo. "Ricondita Armonia" is sung with flair and with dreamy lyricism, a love song to his beloved Tosca (or Ricciarelli ?) which is a great example of how to sing the aria. Even better is his "E lucevan la stelle" which is a tenor signature if sung well. In Carrerras, we have the true Cavaradossi that I have searched for in many recordings.
Katia Ricciarelli is a grand Tosca. I had no idea she had sung the role. Her voice is dramatic, but purely lyric, and she managed to do justice to the role that is most associated with the heavier voices (remember, Callas, Tebaldi, Nilsson and Price sang Tosca) Ricciarelli, in singing the heavy role joined the ranks of the likes of Mirella Freni and Kiri Te Kenawa, whose voices are way lighter than even Ricciarelli but who sang Tosca nonetheless. From the start, when she spews her jealou rant about seeing a woman in the Chapel and that Cavaradossi is hiding a lover, she doesn't break character to simply sound gorgeous like Montserrat Caballe would do. She does sound beautiful, but she is Tosca all the way through. Her scenes with the magnificent baritone Ruggero Raimondi (Scarpia) are electrifying. Her voice is shattering in its intense despair and horror upon discovery that the loathsome and lustful Scarpia is torturing Cavaradossi and plans to seduce her. She sings all the high notes with flair. Yes, with flair, with pithc-perfect clarion strength, even if other critics think otherwise. When she stabs Scarpia in the famous scene, she is so believable that it came as no surprise for she had already flashed hints of murder for Scarpia. Raimondi is brilliant, and is in better voice in this 80's recording than his later Scarpia with Angela Gheorghiu which was made in 2001. Raimondi is now an older man, but his voice is still there, just not as fresh as it is here or when he was singing Don Giovanni back in the late 70's and early 80's. There is a terrific Joseph Losey film with Raimondi as Don Giovanni. Raimondi is nasty but subtle, with a hard shell as Scarpia, cold, clinical and brutal. He is more like Dietrich Fischer Dieskau than Tito Gobbi, Sherill Milnes or Cornell McNeil who have sung traditionally melodramatic Scarpias.
So there you have it. I hope this is enough to make you interested in this recording and to add it to your collection if you already own a dozen other Toscas.
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