Review - Tosca (Puccini), Staatsoper im Schiller Theatre Berlin, 13 October 2015

Tosca - Anja Kampe

Cavaradossi - Marcello Giordani

Scarpia - Michael Volle

Sacristan - Jan Martiník

Staatsopernchoir, Kinderchoir & Staatskapelle Berlin

Conductor - Domingo Hindoyan

Director - Alvis Hermanis

I rather reluctant to watch Tosca again because inevitably I would make comparison to the stupendous performance at Covent Garden back in 2011 with a starry cast, Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Gheorghiu and Bryn Terfel, conducted by the wonderful Antonio Pappano. It was a hard act to follow and this performance from the Staatsoper confirmed my worries.

For any first timer watching Tosca or for an opera experience, Hermanis production would sufficiently serving the purpose to tell the tale with a twist. Except the Te Deum scene, the stage visually divided into two levels: a colourful cartoon by Kristine Jurjane of the opera at the time of Napoleonic war was projected on the upper part, while we saw actions and singers dressed in the fashion of Puccini's time at the lower part. The concept itself was interesting but the dramaturgy did not make it attractive nor inspiring. The stage set had its limitation that actions confounded to the centre and the sides were for exits and entering only. Stage lightings were almost at the same level throughout the evening, and no blood spilled when Scarpia was stabbed by Tosca or Cavaradossi being tortured. The cartoon provided the locations of where different scenes took place in Rome but not really enhancing the visual impact or beauty. Not many furnitures were employed, even the paintings were shown in the cartoon, which made the set looked rather tame and empty. The Te Deum scene was the only part with a visual scene change that utilising the stage with a large chorus to form the procession, while Scarpia cursing from the last row of a church pew. Though the torture scene was an understatement as we saw Cavaradossi rather alive afterwards.

Thankfully Michael Volle and Anja Kampe acted well to save this dull staging from an ultimate boredom. The stabbing scene was intense and Michael Volle made a more terrifying Scarpia than Bryn Terfel. He captured the characteristics of Scarpia very well being a cunning torturer and crude womaniser but also bewildered by Tosca's motive. I also preferred his timbre with a fuller and darker tone that the singing resonated in the hall very well. Anja Kampe was better with actions than her singing. She had the right tessitura, but the timbre lacked the warmth and not being smooth with the phrasing. I felt she better stick with the German repertoire than Italian ones in terms of diction. Jan Martinik was specially mentioned because he was the most well sung Sacristan with a voice pleasant for the ears, phrasing was natural and being comfortable with the vocal range. Marcello Giordani replaced the indisposed Fabio Sartori as Cavaradossi. He certainly looked older than the part in compare to the one portrayed by the cartoon. Not a bad actor but I did not enjoy the switching of registers as he went up in the higher vocal range despite the intonation was secured. The sustaining of long notes sounded quite an effort and hard sometimes for the ears to enjoy. Domingo Hindoyan's conducting was serviceable to keep the ensembles more or less together but still negotiations over tempo in many corners. He would need more live experience to sharpen up the skills. As a whole, this was probably my least enjoyable musical evening in Berlin.