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Orpheus 11/1981 |
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Tosca Berlin - 25.8.81 |
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English
translation © Heidi Hochstein |
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The first days by the new
manager and artistic director Goetz Friedrich produced amazing things
already. Instead of the hotly awaited West Berlin debut by Anna Tomowa-Sintow, an event happened on August 25 that caught
the breath of Berlin opera friends: on short notice, one of the most
thought-after primadonnas of our time replaced the
Bulgarian, who had cancelled, as Tosca: MONTSERRAT CABALLE. This was also a
debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Think about
it! Showered with entrance applause, the well-paid Spaniard sailed through
the first act with allure and vocal brilliance that both listening and
watching were a pleasure. With INGVAR WIXELL
pulling out all the stops as a powerful, elegant Scarpia,
she offered a second act that made her all the way the picture of a primadonna assoluta, so much
though, that one could not seperate Caballe from Tosca. And part of that was the jump from
the Engelsburg that did not happen and ended on the
left side of the street. As the third one in the
trio, JOSE CARRERAS was an affectionate Cavaradossi,
brilliant in voice and performance. JESUS LOPEZ COBOS, who cleaned up the
finale of act one from decades of sloppy scores and therefore was able to
bring it to new meaning (with the "Te Deum" choir without
orchestra, only with organ, Scarpia's crescendo
finally made an audible impact), did not put up with the usual
"Tosca" imperfections but uncovered the nuances of Puccini's
compositions sensitively and therefore gave the singers a precise singing
basis. At the end, the ovations got very heated, as it was not felt here in a
long time. |
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