BocelliOnline

[Melodie]

EXCERPT:

Decca certainly knows that one way to market its greatest asset, Andrea Bocelli, is to keep 'em waiting.

Bocelli is primarily interested in singing opera; many around him are primarily interested in getting additional pop hits out of him. It has taken more than two years for Decca to release the performance of Puccini's ''Tosca'' that Bocelli recorded in March 2001; it reaches the stores Tuesday. Still awaiting release are recordings of Verdi's ''Il Trovatore'' [NOTE: Due for release the first week of April 2004]. Mascagni's ''Cavalleria Rusticana,'' and Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci.''

''Tosca'' is better than Bocelli's first complete opera recording, ''La Boheme'' -- and it might have been better still if had been recorded more recently, because Bocelli is a singer who works hard and continues to improve. He sings the romantic, doomed hero Cavaradossi with ardor, shapely phrasing, clear diction, and the tear-in-the-voice quality of tone that has endeared him to millions.

He's particularly good in the second aria, ''E lucevan le stelle,'' which he has often sung in concert -- the best of many beautiful mezza-voce passages in the recording comes here, and at the end he avoids the traditional shouting and sobbing. What he lacks is much in the way of individual characterization; it's all a bit abstractly correct. One wishes he had waited until he had sung some performances of ''Tosca'' before tackling this recording. Even so, he vocalizes the role more skillfully -- and certainly sings it with more heart -- than several other Cavaradossis on record.

He is well partnered by an outstanding young Italian soprano, Fiorenza Cedolins, as the Roman diva, and baritone Carlo Guelfi as the evil and lustful police chief, Scarpia; even the bit part of the escaped prisoner Angelotti goes to a major singer, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo. Cedolins is a find -- a strong lyric soprano with beautifully poised soft high notes, feisty chest tones, and the breath control to sustain a long line. She takes the two-octave phrase about the murder of Scarpia on one breath, which few Toscas can manage. Occasionally, when she puts the pressure on, the voice can turn thick and even wobbly, but the basic sound is cherishable, and she creates character and drama by singing off the words, in the great, almost vanished Puccini tradition.

When all else fails, Guelfi will resort to shouting, but much of his singing is insinuatingly and imaginatively suave. Zubin Mehta allows some coarse playing from the orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, but superintends a musically scrupulous performance that is also passionate and exciting.

Decca's booklet may prove particularly helpful to the operatic neophyte: Sections of the score are given unusual verbal titles, like the movie chapters on a DVD. The main episodes in Act II are ''Scarpia the sadist,'' ''On the rack,'' ''Betrayed,'' and ''A terrible choice.''

This story ran on page C18 of the Boston Globe on 5/2/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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