Puccini: Tosca

Daniel Harding launched his tenure as music director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with concert performances of Tosca, recorded live for this album. Puccini’s irresistibly melodramatic opera unfolds here with all the power and color of a Mahler symphony, propelled by Harding’s generally brisk speeds and clear determination not to wallow in every heart-on-sleeve moment. Superb orchestral playing and a cast in tune with the conductor’s vision of the score ensure that the drama never wanes. Listen, for instance, to the spine-tingling conclusion of Act I, with Ludovic Tézier’s implacable Scarpia becoming more disturbed (and disturbing) by the second, and the Santa Cecilia chorus crowning matters with their devastating delivery of the Te Deum. Tézier’s multilayered interpretation, a sickening blend of evil and charisma, is matched by commanding performances from Eleonora Buratto as the singer Tosca and Jonathan Tetelman as her lover, the artist Cavaradossi. There’s a sharply honed cutting edge to Tetelman’s voice, complemented by tonal warmth and richness, and deep emotional intelligence, while Buratto is simply sensational, the very embodiment of a performer who, in Tosca’s words, lives for her art.