Puccini: Tosca

Puccini: Tosca

This 1962 recording is viewed as a type of classic. Conductor Herbert von Karajan elicits first-class symphonic playing from his Vienna forces, with great attention to every detail of Puccini's strong score, and Decca's producers have create a soundstage that is magnificent, with layer upon layer of sound, distant effects sounding distant, and a clarity that must be admired. Tempi tend to be broad, but the drama builds nonetheless. Leontyne Price sings with great potency and really acts the spoiled diva. Where she fails is in the details--Tosca's traits are generalized--and in her ugly, truck driver-like chest register she brings forth for emphasis every so often. Giuseppe di Stefano was, by '62, a vocal shadow of his former self: he's involved and interesting, but the sound ranges from weak to horrendous, and if you listen carefully, you'll hear one of the worst cracks on a high note ever, at the end of his last-act duet with Tosca. Giuseppe Taddei, too, was in vocal decline, but he overcomes his problems often enough and his Scarpia is truly a terrifying portrait. So, a mixed bag. Fans of Price and Karajan (and audiophiles) will need this; others are directed toward Callas and di Stefano from a decade earlier on EMI. <i>--Robert Levine</i>