When Alexandra Krzak, a graceful, lyrical soprano with a striking coloratura, released her album two years ago with a surprisingly heavy repertoire of romantic and verismo eras, it seems she announced:
Tosca arrives at the Metropolitan Opera March of last yearand on Tuesday she revisited the title role of Puccini’s Tragedy in David McVicar’s charming but solid production. scale and The high note “Tosca” in Offenbach’s “Les Contes de Fumann” is the starting point. Wagnerian and Verdian sang. Mozart too. But Olympia? It’s rare.
Kurzak’s best moment on Tuesday was a calm one. An opera singer herself, Tosca is often portrayed as a volcanic character, a creature built for the stage whose emotions are under constant threat of eruption. But Krzak’s softly focused heroine was the kind of performer to transform in front of an audience, her jealous tantrums and her high ethics spurred her to evoke fire and grit. .
Krzak seemed to manipulate her silky tone to make it bigger, darker and more dramatic. At times she sounded swallowed and gasped. It was mesmerizing whenever she emerged with more fragile sounds, such as descending on silvery high notes and forming throwaway lines with color and care. , where most of the singers are recovering from the bare climax of the aria, was exquisitely handled.
It’s unusual to remember Tosca for the small moments rather than the big ones, but Krzak’s approach made her Roman diva both touchingly human and deeply tragic.
In the orchestra pit, Carlo Rizzi also delved into Puccini’s tearing score for tenderness. Poor Filigree accompanied Sacristan (the quirky Patrick Carfizzi) in his fussy, talkative role as the opera’s designated comic his relief. During the transitional lull in Tosca’s first act scene with Cavaradossi, the strings trembled with romance. Rizzi lets the notes float menacingly in the air before turning up the score’s flashy, gruesome, anguished intensity. In the third act he painted a gloomy morning scene, signaling that a heinous execution was coming, without spoiling either effect.
Michael Fabiano lent Cavaradossi a handsome, propulsive tenor. His middle voice was consistently gorgeous, and his stage presence kinetic, but his high notes, like 2018’s “Mephistopheles” and his 2019 Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Manon,” was unreliable. There’s no problem there.On “Tosca” they rang with confidence and strength, covered in a dome of sound. revealed the heart of Even if his soft singing in the third act solo was weak, he was torn as he clung desperately to Tosca before his execution.
Luca Sarsi is the engrossing, casually wicked Scarpia who, in a way that balances the police chief’s polite demeanor with the thinly veiled malice, steers his voice down the hall and into a more pitched sang in a speech-like manner. As Sharon, Christopher Jobe was a tough guy.
McVicar’s staging is so innocuous and has the flair to keep detractors at bay that it already seems like a piece of furniture for the Met, even though it’s only five years old. Still, with the right performers bringing a sense of intimacy to its expansive canvas, it feels like a success.
Tosca
through November 4th, and the following spring at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan. metopera.org.