“Angelia Jolie IS Maria Callas,” the posters proclaim. The imperious gaze of Angelina Jolie-as-Callas follows the passerby down Broadway, demanding assent. The main woman’s chapeau and cheekbones are efficient Divina drag. Nonetheless, solely the ultimate reduce will inform if Jolie and the maestro of famous-female-suffering, Pablo Larraín, captured one thing of the girl whose identify and picture have develop into synonymous with “diva.”
If New Yorkers crave a extra dependable hit of divadom within the meantime, they might do worse than catch this season’s opening run of Tosca at The Metropolitan Opera with Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak within the title function.
Kurzak, who lately celebrated her 100th efficiency on the Met, has transitioned from lyric and coloratura roles to the heavier verismo repertoire — her season consists largely of Puccini heroines with a notable debut in Giordano’s Fedora in Geneva. Judging from her efficiency final Saturday, the transition has largely been profitable. Her soprano stays slender at its uppermost extension however retains a pearlescent brightness throughout her register whereas revealing a surprisingly plush chest voice.
She appears intently conscious of the constraints of her instrument in opposition to the thickness of Puccini’s orchestration; she by no means pushed the excessive notes, guaranteeing that her vibrato remained regular and aligned. Even when her method meant that a few of her vocal strains’ climaxes had been much less incisive, her sound remained enticing and possessed a delicacy that served her interpretative instincts effectively. She maintained a floated mezzo-piano all through a lot of “Vissi D’arte” and allowed every phrase to settle gently, fostering a way of intimacy. Nonetheless, by Act III, her voice had noticeably drained, and her narration of Scarpia’s homicide felt haggard, particularly when the vocal line leaped above the workers.
If her vocals generally lacked affect, her dramatic presence enlivened a revival that always felt dully routine. Kurzak understands that Puccini calls for not solely the power to handle lengthy phrases and musical outbursts but additionally to articulate every notice with a constant stage of expressiveness and dramatic depth. From her entrance into Sant’Andrea, she demonstrated a deep connection to the textual content, coloring every of her pronouncements to convey the heroine’s shifting moods. She had a simple allure; the coquettish, coy exchanges with Cavaradossi throughout their Act I duet felt much less like affectations than real expressions of a lady in love’s delight. She even elicited a couple of chuckles from the viewers as she hovered over Cavaradossi’s shoulder to make sure he painted la Maddalena with the proper eye colour. “E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma” got here out in choked disbelief till a short flash of satisfaction got here throughout her eyes. It made the following staging of Scarpia’s corpse much less of a macabre train in spiritual devotion than a testomony to her accomplishment.
Korean tenor SeokJong Baek, recent off his home debut in final yr’s Nabucco, made a robust case for his continued presence on the Met’s roster. Whereas his “Recondita armonia” lacked a level of luster and magnificence—he appeared to know on the notes from under, compromising the form of the melodic line—his tenor warmed considerably by the tip of the love duet. In the identical duet, he demonstrated that he may cut back the facility of his instrument to nice impact; his cries of “mia sirena” had a honeyed sweetness that wafted over the orchestra. In what was maybe the vocal spotlight of the night, he blasted out a “Vittoria!” for what felt like a dangerously very long time with squillo to spare. It was an old-school indulgence to make certain, however one which merited the viewers’s wild applause. The gentler, extra lyrical aspect to his tenor returned in “E lucevan le stelle,” which he tinted with a restrained dynamic palette and a few pretty diminuendos. He and Kurzak shared good chemistry, even when he couldn’t fairly match her stage of dramatic depth.
As Scarpia, Georgian baritone George Gagnidze had a tough night. His sound stalled, by no means attaining the distinctiveness of colour or quantity wanted to mission the chief of police’s authority or vileness. His unvaried dealing with of the textual content and lack of heft largely stripped the Te Deum of its chic sordidness, although The Metropolitan Opera Refrain revived the stress and ensured that considered one of Puccini’s most memorable set items retained its dramatic thrust. Gagnidze’s characterization consisted of broad gesturing and lunging into his marks. There was little or no palpable connection between him and both of his costars; this grew to become most obvious throughout the interrogation scene, the place Baek, who had been animated in his exchanges with Kurzak, instantly went clean within the presence of a personality who ought to have provoked stronger reactions. His need of vitality made Kurzak’s focus and depth all through the second act much more staggering.
A few of Gagnidze’s vocal troubles could also be attributed to Xian Zhang’s opaque conducting within the first act. Whereas her expressive phrasing and gesticulating introduced out a spiky, anxious pulse that harassed the piece’s standing as a form of operatic thriller, her dealing with of the orchestra, nonetheless commanding and cohesive a sound it provoked, typically swamped the singers. Kevin Brief as Angelotti and Patrick Carfizzi, no stranger to the Met’s acoustic calls for, because the Sacristan each struggled to be heard. Zhang was extra beneficiant Kurzak, calibrating her dynamics to accommodate the constraints of her soprano. The Act III prelude was Zhang’s strongest second, as she melded a shimmering array of matinal hues with an incessant, gnawing tinge of what that Roman daybreak portends.
The David McVicar manufacturing, directed in revival by Sarah Ina Meyers, retains each its visible splendor and unimaginative blocking—the shawlography continues to be current, if considerably lowered. Nonetheless, costumes by John Macfarlane and motion director Leah Hausman’s staging of Macaroni, nobles, and beggars submitting into the nave of the cathedrals present some interval particulars to relish.
Two extra divas will tackle the scarf in Tosca this season: Lise Davidsen and Sondra Radvanovsky. Each will lend their distinctive vocal presents to the function, however it stays to be seen whether or not they can method Kurzak’s singular presence and dramatic dedication.
Photographs: Karen Almond
