Search - Nicolae Herlea, Giacomo Puccini, Cornel Trailescu :: Puccini Tosca

One of the best Tosca's around

Alex | Vancouver, BC Canada | 05/29/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Virginia Zeani's voice is exquisite and particularly suited for this great soprano spinte role. In my opinion, Callas and Zeani created the most extraordinary versions of Tosca I have ever listened to. The Romanian-born Zeani defected from Romania and later married Nicola Rossi-Lemeni. Her excellent voice can also be heard on a Romanian recording of La Traviata. In addition to Zeani's excellent performance, both vocally and dramatically, this recording of Tosca also features Nicolae Herlea (as Scarpia), who is considered by many the greatest Romanian baritone of all times. The sound quality on this recording is also very good. In short, this is a version of Tosca that any Puccini lover will be proud to own."

A Tosca MUST

Alex | 06/15/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With the many Tosca's available these days,this version still outshines most others...Zeani sings splendidly; with passion, intimacy, and involvement...Herlea is terrific- his voice matches that of a Zancanaro or Wixell any day...Cavaradossi is not Zeani's or Herlea's equal, but he pulls off a convincing portrayal and is never "incorrect"...at this price- GET IT !"

Uneven rendering

Mr JB | Karlskrona Sweden | 02/01/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Surely, I have to admit, the singing of Virginia Zeani & Herlea is very good here. And the drama, as almost always with east-european recordings from this era, is very well presented by the conductor and orchestra. If that's enough for you, at this price this recording would be a no-brainer.



To Tosca (CD's) there are, however, IMO, a few more aspects to be considered: Cavaradossi? Sound overall sound quality and -balance? minor roles? Cavaradossi here is only decent when he manages not to belt out in overfull voice (which he unfortunately does rather too often). I have not heard any other recordings with him, so it's hard to say if it's his own fault or if he's simply miscast. But unfortunately, his voice has a very obvious split between registers above A, which means that almost all high notes sound bad, i.e. congested & strained. It's also rather clear that he does not have the italianate voice experience that the other principals, especially Zeani, does have.



The sound balance also is typically east-european from this era, with voices very closely recorded and some strange EQ-ing highlighting the 'voiceregister', with the result that the sound is very clear, but sometimes gets too clear and almost hurts your ear. The close miking doesn't help the stentorian Cavaradossi either, since it enhances his obvious flaws. IMO it also disturbs the pleasure from Zeani in some ways - her voice would gain on a more distant miking. Minor roles are OK, no more, no less.



Surely, Zeani, and in some ways Herlea are great, well on (or over) the level with much better known colleagues. But with such a Cavaradossi and the rather sharp and overtly direct sound, this can't in any way be a first-recommendation, but more of a recommendation for lovers of this specific soprano role, who wants another great interpretation of it.

But first choice must remain with Callas/de Sabata, still unsurpassed to this day, although there are plentifull of good role performances from Caballe, Gheorghiu, Björling, Domingo, Carreras, Zancanaro a.s.o."