Puccini: Tosca - Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (2024) [Blu-ray]

This new production of Tosca from Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is set in the late 1920s. Puccini’s ‘Roman Opera’ sees a city bathed in majesty but also curdled by eroticism and sadism, where sartorial elegance and pathological violence co-exist. Taking visual clues from Bernardo Bertolucci’s cinematic masterpiece, Il conformista, the cast is led by the passionate Vanessa Goikoetxea and features the magnetic Alexey Markov in the role of Scarpia. Daniele Gatti directs a performance praised for its ‘courageous and surprising’ impact.

‘A success that at the end involved all the creators of a show prepared with great care but turned out brave and surprising especially in the musical part….’ – La Nazione Firenze

‘…The Teatro del Maggio’s new staging works very well: Puccini’s masterpiece is recreated by Popolizio between realism and some cinematic suggestions, and it finds strength in very accurate gestures and acting…’ – Corriere Fiorentino

‘...Gatti shows us that to know Tosca one must go beyond. Even beyond singing. For it is in the orchestra that Puccini’s power of characterization is truly revealed….’ – Il Sole 24 ore

Recording place: Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino – Sala grande del Teatro del Maggio, Florence, Italy
Recording date: 4 June 2024