Tosca
Royal Opera House
Idomeneo
Barbican
Carmen
Bernie Grant Arts Centre
The latest revival of Tosca at the Royal Opera, with many changes in production by Stephen Barlow, shows signs of taking the work seriously, though they are contradicted by the corporate- and bar-friendly intervals, of a length to dissipate tension and momentum. Antonio Pappano’s conducting, too, displays a passion for the opera, every orchestral masterstroke being held up as a trophy; while it also moves towards one ponderous pause after another, so that Act II, which when conducted coarsely enough is a terrifying vortex of violence and lust, seemed languorous and torpid. It all gave the excellent cast a chance to show their gifts, and they took it. The result was that the star of the occasion was Cavaradossi, usually a mere cipher without whom the perverse romance of Tosca and Scarpia couldn’t be worked out.
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