Puccini’s Tosca (Naxos/TDK Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C Main
Program: A+
Just
after raving about how spectacular the Doktor
Faust Blu-ray was (reviewed here)
we catch up with yet another fantastic Blu-ray from Naxos, this time through
their TDK label. Here we have an incredible production of Puccini’s Tosca, which is perhaps one of my
favorite operas and this version is magnificent to say the least, its arrival
to Blu-ray could convert even the least inclined. You can also read about our coverage of other
Puccini Blu-ray’s here.
Tosca is a three-act Italian opera with
libretty by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, which would be based on
Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca and is translated to new heights as it was
premiered in Rome in the year 1900.
Since that time it remains not only one of Puccini’s strongest entries,
but certainly one of the most performed and is still critically valued even to
this day. For this production we are
treated to a really unique experience being performed outdoors in the Arena di
Verona, which is an enormous coliseum with incredible acoustics and history
that only aids to the overall experience.
The story
is a sweeping tale of a huge magnitude dealing with the tragic relationship
between a romantic painter and a beautiful woman, but of course incorporates
all the typical opera elements of betrayal, suicide, love, death, and
everything in between. What has
captivated audiences for over a century still has power to this day with its
politically charged message, its overpowering orchestral display, and a
powerful tale that never loses steam even through three solid acts. What is
memorable though is the music and the libretto that is achingly beautiful
throughout and regardless of whether you speak Italian or not, the performance
here (particularly Ruggero Raimondi and Fiorenza Cedeloni) is brilliant and
riveting at the same time. This is an
opera that is hard to turn on and then disengage from.
The
performance here is particularly mesmerizing on just about every single level;
it’s this production in particular that will simply astonish viewers because it
transports you right to the moment, right inside the Arena di Verona. I was skeptical at first on how this would
translate to Blu-ray, but upon inserting the disc into my machine, I was
quickly wisped away to another time and place, it took me to Rome and
beyond. Being an outdoor production the
Blu-ray is staggering in it’s level of detail with a 1.78 X 1 framed 1080i High
Definition picture that showcases some incredible level of detail. While lighting is a bit different here due to
the more naturally intended schemes since the staging is limited, it’s
incredible how the resolution is still strong.
It’s also fair to say that overall resolution and depth is a shade below
some of the other strong titles released from Naxos on their OpusArte or
Arthaus labels. I attribute this to
perhaps slightly lesser quality camera and the transfer does show some bit of
jitter throughout that is very noticeable in certain scenes. Depth, color, and clarity are still very
strong with the incredible sets looking marvelously rich and vibrant. Close-up shots look a bit sharper, while some
of the wider shots appear softer, which could be attributed to outdoor
shooting.
The sound
on the other hand is incredibly strong in both of it’s incarnations, a stunning
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless track and a PCM 2.0 lossless track, which are
both equally stunning in their own rights.
Like many of the opera titles that we have covered from the various labels,
this one will ultimately come down to preference. Again, since this is an outdoor production I
was curious about the sound, in particular I was curious how the vocals would
come across in comparison to the orchestra.
It’s certainly fair to say that while the mix is lively and sweeping it
also has a few minor problems, the biggest though is consistency. Some of the performers are easier to hear
than others and the overall vocal volume is more up and down, this is more
noticeable in the 5.1 mix. The 2.0 PCM
mix’s downside though is that it’s less engaging and does not give the
atmosphere that the 5.1 mix does, it does seem to present a cleaner version of
the production, but the atmosphere of the 5.1 is preferred as well and brings
the viewer/listener into the performance, again this will be a preference
call.
In
addition to the picture gallery and trailer for Giselle, there is also a
BD-Live feature that allows you to access an online gallery of trailers for
other Naxos titles and will likely be a one-time through supplement that is
more promotional than supplemental in most people’s minds. There is also a booklet included that helps
give some context to the production as well and is a great addition to an
astonishingly great production of one of the finest operas ever written!
We hope to
see more material from TDK and despite some very minor picture and sound
issues; this is one title that should be on any serious Blu-ray or opera
fanatic’s shelf.
- Nate Goss
