Puccini- Tosca -complete opera- - Performed by Maggio Musicale

Puccini - La Bohème / Bocelli, Frittoli, Mei, Gavanelli, Luperi, de Carolis, Israel PO, Mehta The either-love-him-or-hate-him tenor sensation Andrea Bocelli fulfills his lifelong dream of recording Puccini's rapturous La Bohème, thereby affording fans (who may have previously shunned opera) access to this magical art form. A fragile vulnerability graces Bocelli's Rod...	Verdi: Il Trovatore (Complete Opera) This is Andrea Bocelli's third complete opera recording--after La bohème and Tosca. Manrico is a role to which his type of lyric sound is completely unsuited. How odd it is then that it should be the most successful one to date! Some of the problems persist, but all of them to a...	Andrea Bocelli: Verdi With this CD devoted solely to operatic arias--by none less than Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest Italian opera composer of all time--pop crossover phenomenon Andrea Bocelli throws his hat into the operatic ring with the big boys. The hat occasionally fits, and occasionally it d...	Andrea Bocelli - The Opera Album ~ Aria Andre Bocelli is no opera singer, but he shows far more potential in this album than does another pop-vocalist tenor-wannabe, Michael Bolton. For one thing, he can shake off the crooner mannerisms and really sing when performing music that calls for it. At his best, he has a r...	Viaggio Italiano / Andrea Bocelli Opera is in fashion, and the woods are full of pop vocalists who think they have the chops to sing arias. The best contender so far is Andrea Bocelli, who at least has a real voice, if a small one, and sometimes manages a really exciting tenor sound. Unfortunately, he is inconsis...
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Clear as a bell
Tosca has been one of my favoirtes for over 40 years. Saw it at the Met, and in Philly, where else? Best memory was my first date with my wife of 35 years -- we went to the school library and spent Saturday afternoon sitting at the turn tables listening to it together with headsets on. She only told me years later it was excruciating because the headsets pressed on her glasses and made her head hurt! But she suffered through it. Her favorite tenor today: Andrea Bocelli. He handles the part beautifully. The recording is clear as a bell -- even the recording of the bells recording is a nice touch. I will have to listen to this many more times to decide how it compares to some of my other favorites, but this is truly beautiful music.

Lacking monumentality
Ok, right, we've all said it. Bocelli is not an opera singer!!!! I agree completely. His high notes lack the freedom and ring prerequisite of even college singers. Secondly, he needs a microphone. That said, he still does have a lovely voice, if not one suited for the operatic stage. Also, the reviewer who criticized Pavarotti and said Carreras was the better of the three tenors obviously is mistaken. Any true opera fan and connaisseur knows that Pavarotti was the greatest tenor of his time with nearly flawless technique and an absolutely brilliant upper register. I would argue that any recording by Pavarotti is worth listening to! But back to this opera. I think that it is unfair to lump the other singers with Bocelli. Cedollins gives a beautiful performance as Tosca. I have heard many recordings of Vissi D'arte (Tosca's lovely aria in the Second Act) including Te kanawa, Freni, Callas, Price, and De los Angeles. However, Cedollins in my opinion gives the best performance. Her rendition of this famous aria is both heartfelt and beautiful. Mehta is an amazing conductor, and I learned how this aria is supposed to be sung and played from this album. The Scarpia is excellent in my opinion. His technique is sound and there is very little strain in his voice at any point in this challenging role. (Although I bet Terfel or Hampson could do better). Also, Scarpia's henchman has a lovely lyric voice. It's a shame he isn't the star tenor here.

Disappointing....
This Tosca may be a digital stereo recording, but it doesn't hold a candle to any other Tosca, even those mono recording made by the great Callas. One problem which besets this opera is the fact that Bocelli is turned into the main star of the opera. This shouldn't be the case, as the main characters each must have their own time on spotlight. What the producers of this opera did was they blared all the audio when Bocelli came in and tuned down the sounds when other singers sang their lines. The orchestra was also barely audible, thus leeching the opera's dramatic effect. Any music listener knows that for any successful recording to be both vocally and dramatically effective, there must be a balance between both the artists and the orchestra. Zubin Mehta is an excellent conductor. His Turandot had the best orchestra every to rear its head into Puccini's Swan Song. I just don't know what happened to him here. Whether they are trying to get the light and slender voiced tenor to sing opera for dummies, I don't know. All I have to say is this Tosca is not recommended for those who wish to explore the best of the operatic realm. Whoever said that the best products don't really sell as opposed to those made by popular artists must be delusional if he thinks that this is good enough for the effort. Powerful? I don't think so. If you really want an impressive Tosca with a gorgeous cast, get the Freni-Domingo version by Deutsche Grammophone. Still, if you don't have an open mind and stubbornly insist that Bocelli is the greatest "opera" singer around, go ahead and order this Tosca.

If he's not an opera singer why is he singing opera?
I read many of the comments about people saying that they like Bocelli's Tosca even though they understand that it's not the real thing.C'mon guys, can you say that Carlo Rossi (cheap jug wine) is a good wine after you've known some of the better ones? Worse yet, in this case this recording is even more expensive than the better recordings on the subject. I would definitively suggest that people listened to Callas-DiStefano on this opera (just to name one of the better ones) before saying that this is a good Tosca.By the way, Pavarotti should have NEVER recorded Tosca; if you MUST listen to one of the three tenores on this one, go with Carreras, he's the least bad of the three.

Not a bad effort but must be put in context...
What must be understood about this recording of Tosca is that it aims to please a certain type of audience, mainly fans of Bocelli's sound and style. So logically this Tosca was not produced for serious opera-going crowds, nor was it ever intended to be a serious contender to the numerous legendary versions of Tosca already out on the market. So for those wishing to listen to definitive, high-calibre Puccini, don't look for it here or bemoan the fact that this Tosca does not attempt to deliver on those goals. The above must always be kept in mind. So discussing things like "real opera is not miked all over" or "he was laughed off at La Boheme" are totally meaningless things which have nothing to do with the ultimate success of his recordings. The fact is Bocelli's singing has mass appeal... by blending an alluring romantic "pop" sensibility to his sound while at the same time creating a serious-minded "opera-like" ambiance. Of course from a purely operatic viewpoint it is not an appropriate sound for opera, but that is not the point of its existence. Also a fact is for most average listeners, the top serious opera stars of yesterday and today have very very limited appeal regardless of how much vocally superior they are to Bocelli. So it's not so simple as comparing cheap product A to super quality product B and have everyone always choose the super quality product. If that were true, then only serious tenor recordings would just fly off the shelves and all other types of recordings would be left in a huge garbage heap. Yet the serious opera fans will continue to look at this from a serious-opera point of view, run off one legendary name after another and scratch their heads wondering why aren't these people instead rushing out and buying the entire catalougue of the real legends. The whole "Well if you love this guy, then naturally you will just fawn over THIS legend" concept just doesn't work all the time.About this recording specifically, it has some good moments but I have to ask myself why choose this opera and especially why record ANY opera that hasn't been fully prepared and developed over time by the singer? I feel he can make a very unique interpretation with a few types of opera or songs but ONLY if he's given the right time to mature his interpretations and receives the right artistic direction and material. I've heard other full opera recordings by well known names that also failed in the end because of not enough experience in the roles, so Bocelli is no exception. No matter how good any tenor may be, dedicating very limited time to a work and with limited development of an opera role will lead to VERY inconsistant results.And what is even more illogical is that this Tosca was recorded several years ago when Bocelli's technique was still developing and his experience with full-length opera roles and maturity were much less also... so logically this Tosca had an overall feeling of simple inexperience, like a "dry run" attempt at an entire work instead of a carefully prepared, matured interpretation... This is what I feel was a huge obstacle right away in this recording, NOT a complete lack of talent as some here have suggested.Also, why this opera? Only because of its popularity? That is the real shame because I can imagine so many other operas better suited for Bocelli. At least with "La Boheme", Bocelli had studied the part and performed it on-stage various times for a few years. I seriously hope future recordings will be of lesser-known but more appropriate material. No Verdi or types of opera which require distinctive raw power.