Search - Giacomo Puccini, Daniel Oren, Rome Opera Theater Orchestra & Chorus :: Puccini: Tosca [Highlights]

Another Fine Tosca: Pavoratti Shines

02/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ok. So I was never a fan of Luciano Pavoratti but I am a fan of Puccini's Toca and also of the soprano in this recording Raina Kabaisvanka (I know I mispelled her name). Raina has performed Tosca successfully numerous times on stage and appeared in a 1976 film shot on location in Rome. She starred opposite tenor Placido Domingo who would become a very acclaimed Cavaradossi and repeat the role several times in his career. Domingo is the far superior Cavaradossi and outshines Pavoratti as far as dramatically. Yes, Domingo puts in an Oscar worthy performance. His voice is pure, strong and lyric, capable of moving one to tears. Pavoratti, long considered to many, even non-opera fans, to be the best tenor ever, sings only to show-off his gorgeous voice. He does indeed make a brilliant sounding Cavaradossi. But a beautiful voice is not the only thing an opera star needs in order to succeed. He is required to act convincingly. But his shortcomings can be overlooked when one considers how fine an album this is. It is probably Raina's Tosca that saves him. Somehow, she makes Pavoratti sound better than his usual lethargic self. This album is not the best out there. It's recorded live and was mostly a concert performance without scenery or theatrics. And it does come off as a concert performance which means it can lack in the dramatic intensity predominant in a stage performance or studio recording.



Tosca is Puccini's most difficult role, even more so than Turandot. While Turandot and Tosca require essentially the same kind of voice, Turandot is distant, cold, steely, mythic and goddess like, with only a short descent into humanity at the end when she is conquered by Calaf's love. Tosca, on the other hand, is a heroine who is strong and very very human. She never loses our interest and directly communicates with us through every note and every gesture. She is Puccini's most "Italian" heroine quite literally too- Mimi in Boheme is supposed to be a frail French girl from Paris, Madame Butterfly is a Japanese maiden and the forementioned Turandot is a Chinese figure of legend. Tosca is a flesh and blood Italian heroine living in Napoleon Times Rome, early 19th century. She is jealous, playful, feisty, serene, spiritual, sensual, dramatic, passionate and intense. She is as capable of praying in Church as she is of killing Scarpia in cold blood. She gives up all for love. But too many times a soprano misses something about her complex nature. She has been portrayed as a Hollywood diva or opera diva somehow acting out her own dramatic operas in the "real life" of the opera's context. She is also portrayed as entirely strong and assertive. Just because she was able to murder the powerful villain Scarpia in one scene does not mean that at any time before or after that scene she must come off as a strong woman. In fact, many of her lines reveal a childish woman, a vulnerable and petulant woman. Raina Kabainvska is the most successful soprano to take on Tosca convincingly, other than Maria Callas. Kabainvanska shades the character with many textures, light and dark. She can be sweet and deadly at the same time. Other fine Toscas for me include Shirley Verrett, Grace Bumbry, Leontine Price, Catherine Malfitano, Angela Gheorghiou and Mirella Freni. But in Kabainvanska, particularily in this recording, we are treated to a fine rendition that is hard to see today."

Raina as Tosca

angel antonov | Europe | 02/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Raina Kabaivanska is one of the greatest Puccini interpreter of all times.Her Tosca,Butterfly and Manon are INCOMPARABLE! This is not my favourite recording of Raina, but this is something subjective.She is never less than wonderful!

Welcome on her fan site(...)"