Giacomo Puccini: Tosca

It is no exaggeration to say that the two performances of Tosca at the Royal Opera House in July 2011 – with Angela Gheorghiu, Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel as the leads – were opera history in the making and by far the hottest tickets in town.

For the majority of us who weren’t lucky enough to be there, it has been captured on this DVD, exclusively released by EMI.

Pappano’s mastery of Puccinian pace and phrasing intensifies this turbulent score’s onward surge, but he’s also noticeable attentive to his singers…[Kaufmann’s] cries of ‘Vittoria!’ are thrilling…and his acting never slackens…Tosca’s mercurial character seems to resonate with [Gheorghiu] naturally…There are some decent Toscas on DVD already, but I’d start here. — BBC Music Magazine, February 2013