Tosca on Steroids

I usually think of concert performances of opera something that is for situations where a staged opera would be difficult and there is no other way to hear the score. Rare operas have often been given this way, the Opera Orchestra of New York has been doing this for years and other ensembles have as well. This year I was grateful to hear Kirov Orchestra and Valery Gergiev do a concert version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Snow Maiden” in concert form since it is unlikely that I’d get to see it again (as it turns out its usually performed in concert form in Russia where its very popular). I was surprised to see The New York Philharmonic announce concert performances of Tosca, after all it’s hardly rare and both of New York’s opera companies give it regularly. It was part of out subscription so we went even though we know it by heart. It gave us the chance to here Lorin Maazel conduct opera, something he rarely does here, save for a few Walküres at the Met this season, but does often in Europe.
We were glad we went as it was really an out there experience. Having the singers and the choruses, there were two New York Choral Artists, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus, on the stage with the orchestra allowed everyone to be a little louder. This was especially evident since Maazel did everything possible to enhance the sound and emotions. This was a big Tosca with sweeping emotional love and hate. No room for subtlety in this production, every emotion was magnified to the max. This is not a bad thing since Puccini was into grand gestures and melodrama but rarely have I seen it go this far in a modern production, the word pornography entered my mind during the love scenes. The 3 lead singers acted their parts, although they wore traditional concert dress not costumes. It was fun to watch them act as they sang; it seemed somehow like in a silent movie. In the first act when Tosca points to the painting of Mary Magdalene and is jealous of the model the audience chuckled since she was pointing at the first tier boxes.
The cast was excellent and well into the style of the evening. Tosca was Hui He, who is not well known in the United States but has sung many Puccini heroines in the A list opera houses of Europe. She sang well while at the same time she showed torrents of emotion. She was the audience favorite of the night and received long ovations after her arias and cheers at the end. I look forward to seeing her in staged operas. Walter Fracarro sang wonderfully and acted with more restraint, as he did when he sang Cavaradossi at The Met. He was warmly received by the audience but if he had hammed it up a bit he would have got the cheers his singing deserved. I have heard some world class Scarpias but George Gagnidze will own this role for years to come. Both singing and acting he is cold and evil personified. He got loud cheers from the audience; his performance was everything you could want from a villain. The other principals didn’t really try to act but sang well and kept up their side musically.
There is one other joy to seeing a familiar opera in concert - you can see the orchestra and appreciate their considerable contribution to the evening. Several solos from horns, cellos and violins that I have never really noticed before were played brilliantly, it was a pleasure to watch and listen. They seemed to have no problem with Maazel’s interpretation. Although one critic seemed to think they were a little sloppy Thursday night they worked it out by the second night on Saturday. This time of the year the audience seems younger than usual as the older regular patrons are out in their summer homes. This made for a more enthusiastic audience than usual and lots of well dressed young women teetering around in very high heels during the two intermissions, perhaps a ‘Sex in the City’ after effect. It was a perfect audience for an over the top evening. As we left we saw the film director John Waters chatting happily with his companion, the perfect out there celebrity sighting for an over the top evening.