The season begins with a weak debut in Puccini’s “Tosca”.

Ludovic Tezer at his best enters Erwin Schrute.

Ludovic Tézier is like Scarpia everywhere. After Salzburg and (intervention) in Graz, he also spontaneously saved the start of the Vienna Opera season: Erwin Schrute canceled due to injury. This is how the Vienna public was able to see this police chief calculated but not absolute. In “Te Deum” in front of Margarethe Wallmann’s impressively staffed production, shown for the 622nd time, he was emotionally cold, albeit less dominant than some of his predecessors. In fact and in a voice, Tézier gave the evening’s best performance, while the other role he debuted under Axel Kober fell sharply: Carmen Giannattasio as Tosca and Fabio Sartori as Cavaradossi.

Janatasio is not from the artist who is universally admired, but from the lover and jealousy who often takes Kavaradosi in her arms. After Scarpia is killed, she is shocked at herself, more a fearsome deer than a convinced avenger. In addition, her “Vissi d’Arte” voice is very powerful, yet very internal, while the impression on her vocal performance remained unremarkable this evening.

Similar to Sartori, whose “E lucevan le stelle” was cute and sexy at the same time, having sounded rather thick at the beginning of the evening. Wolfgang Bankl liked the sexton, while Clemens Unterreiner could find more suitable roles than Angelotti. The audience celebrated the performance excessively, in which the joy of the beginning of the season most likely played a role. (tst)

(“Die Presse,” print edition, September 6, 2021)