Kurzak brings fresh vocal richness to Met’s “Tosca”
Tosca returned to the Met on Wednesday evening capping off a trio of performances which included the company premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann to launch the 2024-25 season. The Puccini favorite will return with three different casts, one as star-laden as the next.
David McVicar’s 2017 staging is traditional to a tee, except for the odd angle on which the sets are pitched. The three locations in which the action takes place—the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese, and the rooftop of Castel Sant’Angelo—are realistically rendered. The costumes are true to the period and often quite sumptuous.
The only misstep comes in Act I, when Scarpia gives vent to his lust for Tosca. Even a Scarpia as imposing of voice and figure as George Gagnidze has to struggle to compete with the eye-catching folderol, including a procession of clergy in glittering vestments, imposing lanterns, and a canopy high above the crowd.
Aleksandra Kurzak first sang the role of Floria Tosca during the 2021-22 season. While her voice remains on the lighter end of the vocal spectrum for the role, it has gained in richness, depth, and color. The suppleness and sparkle are happily still there, especially when Kurzak’s Tosca is at her most coquettish when taunting Cavaradossi in the opening act. But when Tosca rages at Scarpia, Kurzak shifts to impressive cavernous chest tones that convey the revulsion that she feels at the mere thought of his touch.
Without doubt, Kurzak is one of the lithest and most physically agile sopranos to assume the role. She effortlessly climbs atop SeokJong Baek’s Cavaradossi to comfort him when he returns battered and bruised from the torture chamber. They look totally natural on the relatively small and delicate settee which for a moment is an oasis of their love. Those qualities extend to her voice also, which lent itself to a beautifully sung and emotionally powerful “Vissi d’arte.”
Baek as Cavaradossi was a celebration of youth and stamina, coupled with a terrific voice. He impressed in his debut last season as Ismaele in Nabucco and then as Calaf in Turandot, but Cavaradossi gave a fuller measure of the tenor’s talents. In “Recondita armonia,” Baek traded lyricism for robust singing, but by “E lucevan le stelle” all of that was out of his system. Introspection took the place of bravura, and yielded some amazingly long, beautifully shaped phrases.
In between those two great arias, however, came some thrilling moments. Xian Zhang was the most indulgent of conductors in permitting Baek to sustain high notes seemingly forever. His cries of “Vittoria” in Act II blazed as he triumphantly held on to each syllable in a stunning show of virtuosity. Baek, however, was the most congenial of colleagues and a true musical partner to Kurzak, who also seemed to go for broke with some of her sustained high notes.
Gagnidze was a malevolent, brutish Scarpia, who brings little subtlety to the role vocally or dramatically. The voice is sizable enough, but his top range often thinned out just when it needed to kick into gear.
Patrick Carfizzi reprised his wonderful, richly detailed Sacristan, as did Kevin Short as an impassioned if too broadly acted, Angelotti. Spencer Hamlin was a fine, dastardly Spoletta. Christian Pursell as Sciarrone and William Meinert as the Jailer made fine impressions in their company debuts. Luka Zylik sang the shepherd’s song which opens Act III in a voice that was true and clear.
With the three chords that open the opera, Zhang let it be know that drama would reign. She was the most attentive of conductors in terms of balance and support. The orchestra responded in kind playing with energy, transparency, and dramatic acuity. Solos, particularly the clarinet introduction to “E lucevan le stelle,” were ideally rendered. In the monumental Act I “Te Deum,” the chorus sang with authority and power, an indication that the ensemble is in good hands under the Met’s new chorus master, Tilman Michael.
Tosca continues through January 23. Lise Davidsen, Freddie De Tommaso, and Quinn Kelsey assume the principal roles on November 12, with Sondra Radvanovsky, Brian Jagde, and Bryn Terfel taking over on January 9 for the remainder of the performances. Xian Zhang and Yannick Nézet-Séguin conduct. metopera.org
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