So how was it for Iulia? First review of the Met’s sub-prime Tosca
mainApart from the last-minute substitute professor, the tenor was under the weather and the baritone was six months late.
First review here:
On Monday night, the Met went to its bench again, when Jennifer Rowley, set to lead a new cast of Tosca, fell ill.
Replacing her was Iulia Isaev, a Romanian soprano who was making her Met debut, despite having an established career. Given the circumstances, her performance on Monday was impressive: she displayed a warm, focused tone that was remarkably consistent throughout the night, save for a little tightness at the top, which forced her to cut short the climactic A in “Vissi d’arte.” Without much chance to rehearse, Isaev’s portrayal was generalized yet effective, sweeping majestically about the stage…
Joseph Calleja was announced as being under the weather, as well, and indeed there was clear evidence of phlegm on his top notes…
Read on here.
Very often it’s the adrenalin and the Will To Win that carries us through on such occasions! Congrats to Iulia – she was her own Floria Tosca, and that’s more important than one note in Vissi d’Arte. It’s a punishing role, like Butterfly – that calls for loving lyricism alongside steely self-sacrificing determination at the end… with an allocation of three different top C’s (written!) along the way!
and that one note is a B flat, not A. I’d expect an opera critic to at least know that.
Indeed Peter Owen.
And that should disqualify Eric C. Simpson for all time (I mean that seriously).
In Calleja’s case, you only heard it in the “Tosca” of ‘Recondita armonia’, the high B natural when Cavaradossi pledges to protect Angelotti, and the Vittoria of Act 2. Outside of those three, you wouldn’t know he was sick.
A tawdry work at best .No matter how you dress it,
it still is cheap ,and all the drama surrounding it reeks
with false Victorian morality of the times .
Yes, Italy was entirely populated by Victorians.
Stick to G&S, mate, it’s more your cup of tea.
“Ooom-pah! Ooom-pah! Ooom-pah!”
G&S has often more musical validity than
much of the melodramatic kitsch served up as grand opera to the undiscerning.
Ooom-pahs included ……….