Tosca - 29 July 2020 -What the heck?

[Vile Consort]

From the Aix en Provence festival, apparently. But what on earth was going on 25 minutes or so into the first act? There was a cry of "Stop, stop stop!" and the performance ground to a halt, followed by a female voice (the conductor?) asking one of the singers to sing in a different way, then off we went again.

What was this a recording of? A rehearsal? Clearly not a live performance.

[Bella Kemp]

Yes it was very odd. Not knowing what it was I thought that it might be some rare Berio at first Did the announcer say anything beforehand?

[Ein Heldenleben]

From the Aix en Provence festival, apparently. But what on earth was going on 25 minutes or so into the first act? There was a cry of "Stop, stop stop!" and the performance ground to a halt, followed by a female voice (the conductor?) asking one of the singers to sing in a different way, then off we went again.

What was this a recording of? A rehearsal? Clearly not a live performance.

I heard it as well - then rewound it on iplayer to check. I wonder whether the production was one of the those play - within - a play settings so beloved of Regie Theatre with Angel Blue playing herself playing Tosca. I wouldn't fancy giving such an insultingly basic note to a singer of her quality. Also the 'director' sounded so stagey - she could do with a few notes really....

[Vile Consort]

It reminded me of a programme of organ music that I taped many, many years ago - possibly in the seventies. This, too, had managed to escape the editor's razor blade, with the result that the announcer (Peter Barker, I seem to remember) could be heard clearing his throat, re-recording parts when he wasn't satisfied with his delivery and, on one occasion, after a rather duff turn of phrase, there was a sotto voce, "no, that's not quite right ... erm, what I mean is ... erm ..." followed by a much better worded enunciation of the same thought.

As I type, it comes to me that it was a program of music by Georg Böhm, played by Graham Barber. Funny thing, the memory.

[LeMartinPecheur]

From the Aix en Provence festival, apparently. But what on earth was going on 25 minutes or so into the first act? There was a cry of "Stop, stop stop!" and the performance ground to a halt, followed by a female voice (the conductor?) asking one of the singers to sing in a different way, then off we went again.

What was this a recording of? A rehearsal? Clearly not a live performance.

It was weird well before the 20-minute mark. The opening credits indicated there was an old Tosca looking back as well as the young one, with two different sopranos, Malfitano(?) and Blue. Right at the start we went into a 'pre-prise' of Vissi d'arte, at which point I operated the Off button! (Actually I'm not that keen on Tosca, or Puccini generally, so this isn't a very damaging indictment.)

[underthecountertenor]

It was weird well before the 20-minute mark. The opening credits indicated there was an old Tosca looking back as well as the young one, with two different sopranos, Malfitano(?) and Blue. Right at the start we went into a 'pre-prise' of Vissi d'arte, at which point I operated the Off button! (Actually I'm not that keen on Tosca, or Puccini generally, so this isn't a very damaging indictment.)

If you’d stuck with it a bit longer you would have heard a butler addressing Malfitano, for some reason in English even though she was playing an Italian diva, the performance was in Aix and the actor was clearly French. He sounded like Arthur Bostram’s character in Allo, Allo!.

I’m keener on Tosca than you, and in particular think that the orchestral opening is one of the most arresting in all opera, plunging you straight into the drama. This risible directorial frame put paid to that. And I switched off.

[LHC]

It was weird well before the 20-minute mark. The opening credits indicated there was an old Tosca looking back as well as the young one, with two different sopranos, Malfitano(?) and Blue. Right at the start we went into a 'pre-prise' of Vissi d'arte, at which point I operated the Off button! (Actually I'm not that keen on Tosca, or Puccini generally, so this isn't a very damaging indictment.)

I didn’t hear the performance, but online reviews suggest this was a deliberate part of the production, and I think it would have been Malfitano interrupting Angel Blue.

The director introduces a new character, the Prima Donna, played by the veteran of many Tosca productions, Catherine Malfitano. The premise is a film crew making a documentary of an aging diva, watching her as she coaches a cast through the piece in her own apartment – complete with full orchestra, chorus and children’s chorus (it looks like quite a spacious home). Each act takes us through that initial coaching, to the cast rehearsing, to a closing concert performance with the orchestra now on stage.

[gurnemanz]

I might have stuck with this

a) if it had been a video, where the unusual presentation might at least have made some sense
b) if I hadn't the evening before watched the daily Met stream of Luc Bondy's version with Karita Mattila. Bondy had been booed by the first-night audience who missed their Zefferelli staging. It had some idiosyncrasies but it was certainly worth a look and the Guardian described it as "strikingly safe".

[DracoM]

From the Aix en Provence festival, apparently. But what on earth was going on 25 minutes or so into the first act? There was a cry of "Stop, stop stop!" and the performance ground to a halt, followed by a female voice (the conductor?) asking one of the singers to sing in a different way, then off we went again.

What was this a recording of? A rehearsal? Clearly not a live performance.

Yes, was baffled - had it been later inserted because the 'live' performance ah somehow failed or been interrupted?

[gurnemanz]

PS Re unusual Aix productions, I have recently greatly enjoyed the modern, bare-stage Aix staging of Don Giovanni ... and also the Swedish lockdown version under Daniel Harding with some not overdone Covid allusions. Staged in the empty Berwaldhallen theatre, it was set up by our own Andrew Staples who into the bargain sings a superb Don Ottavio.

[gradus]

I listened to the first 20 minutes or so but wasn't terribly impressed by what I heard quite apart from the directorial additions. Perhaps it got better as the performance progressed?

[french frank]

and also the Swedish lockdown version under Daniel Harding with some not overdone Covid allusions.

Thank you for that link, gurnemanz. I watched it with great interest. A weird production, but not in the way that one so often finds tiresome these days.

Staged in the empty Berwaldhallen theatre, it was set up by our own Andrew Staples who into the bargain sings a superb Don Ottavio.

Yes, director and more than adequate performer. Giovanni is my least favourite Mozart opera (the crimes so horribly real, the punishment not) although I adore Mozart, but this production kept me watching.