The idea itself is type of foolish –what extra might be executed to heap laurels upon a composer whose operas already represent round one out of each 5 of the corporate’s performances? And after we do fête Puccini, on this centenary of his demise, what precisely are we celebrating?
In a brief, jaunty documentary previous the opera (“Puccini: A Historic Rhapsody”) that delved into Puccini’s involvement with the Met particularly, it was extra what Puccini made attainable, somewhat than the works themselves, that was the main target; the singers (together with Enrico Caruso and Geraldine Farrar, “the Taylor Swift of her day,” in response to narrator and Met historian Peter Clark), the celebrities, and, implicitly, the over 120 years of reliable field workplace receipts. The efficiency the adopted supplied little readability; certainly, Tuesday night time’s gala was a celebration of Puccini’s extra unruly proliferations, his failsafe but not fairly justly ascribed status as an inexpensive thrills incubator, somewhat than the composer himself. The shocker might now not be little, however it was particularly shabby.
There was even one thing crass (albeit in a type of classic, quaint manner) in regards to the slapdash manner the forged was put collectively; Decca unique superstars Lise Davidsen and Met debutant Freddie De Tommaso, like Mickey and Judy with barrel chests, jetted in final week to steer the forged, with an outstanding Quinn Kelsey singing his first full Scarpia on this shore. The four-performance run will culminate in an HD broadcast on November 23 earlier than the A-list stars as soon as once more scatter to the wind. It was a tenuous premise for such excessive stakes event and the efficiency laid these ingrained vulnerabilities naked.
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Davidsen’s vulnerabilities, as it might appear from this efficiency, are primarily within the decrease register. From her entrance into Sant’Andrea della Valle, chestless parlando strains didn’t land – was I actually having hassle listening to Lise Davidsen, of all individuals? The state of affairs predictably endured in Act II; whereas her excessive notes have a booming focus and an exciting safety, this extremely skilled and textually attentive singer was typically subsumed by the orchestra the decrease the position bought. Strains which span octaves, just like the thrice repeated “Che avvien?” when Scarpia hints on the horrors of Cavaradossi’s torture in Act II, made this basic low register weak point clear, as did Tosca’s in-alt agonized imprecations that had been virtually utterly coated by the foreboding Dies Irae muttering of Tony Stevenson’s smarmy Spoletta.
Issues of timbral “match” are of little curiosity or use to me, however the reality of the matter is that the position as but stays unintegrated into Davidsen’s voice, which is a disgrace as a result of the solidity and simultaneous heat and brilliance of her top-heavy sound have an interesting, plainspoken drama in them, a plainspokenness that informs her largely pragmatic, unshowy, even demure characterization. This Tosca regarded so deeply wounded by Cavaradossi’s portray of her romantic rival and her helplessness within the second Act was genuinely affecting. A few of this translated by to her poignant “Vissi d’arte,” the place her excessive pianissimi had been as a lot a factor of magnificence as her blazing fortissimi elsewhere, however the first a part of the aria regarded and seemed like a sequence of mournful yawns as she knit the phrases collectively throughout an inconsistently developed decrease/center voice. And weaknesses like this occlude a few of these declamatory moments that every one Toscas absolutely relish – when “Ecco l’artista!” at Mario’s execution barely comes by, a dialogue of interpretative priorities might be warranted.
De Tommaso, however, appears to think about himself so good for his position that he has already lapsed into Caruso-stache’d caricature. The voice has a gravity and barely coated depth with a grounded spin up prime and breath management that enables for lengthy and simple phrases, however the singing typically turns vulgar. Whereas the preliminary patchiness and coordination points in “Recondita armonia” I initially credited to both nerves or Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s completely ham-fisted and haphazard conducting, I spotted that by “E lucevan le stelle,” so replete with sobs and scoops and galloping by any variety of unwritten pitches earlier than returning to its authentic key, that artistry manqué was a minimum of partially accountable. Verbiage Pitts Sanborn utilized to Rosa Ponselle’s Traviata — ”violent onslaughts on Verdi’s melodic line” – got here readily to thoughts.
Equally undisciplined, although to a much less consequential finish, was Patrick Carfizzi’s mugging, muttering Sacristan, revealing the gradual deterioration of David McVicar’s initially amblingly fluid blocking which is now in its seventh season. William Guanbo Su, however, was as much as his traditional targeted and eloquent commonplace because the Jailer.
Certainly, the most important tragedy of this Tosca was that its strongest singer was fatally knifed midway by; Quinn Kelsey’s Scarpia is absolutely fashioned and marvelously advanced. Not solely are you able to catch each phrase, shaded with various ranges of arch menace, however his sound was exceptionally simply and steadily produced. He’s no moustache twirler, however savors the textual content with libidinal fury and sadistic glee. Particularly throughout Act II, it was Kelsey who was the extra transfixing of the 2, and seemingly the one singer unfazed by Nézet-Séguin’s panoply of erratically gradual tempi.
Whereas some particulars within the orchestra (like the stunning harp taking part in by Hannah Cope and crisp pizzicato elsewhere in Act I) had been good to listen to, the ad-hoc high quality of the general studying appeared each uneven and unsettling to the singers who on multiple event fell out of step with the orchestra. Maybe it was a tribute to Puccini’s far-reaching capabilities that a lot may go not fairly proper in a efficiency of one in every of his operas. Puccini, performances like this remind us, is not any plug-and-play stuff. And it’s all positive and good for the Met to throw a celebration in his honor, as a result of in spite of everything, it’s the Puccini on the fundraising stability sheets – and never the stage or the orchestra pit – that issues most.
Photographs: Marty Sohl
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