Now 60 his voice has hollowed out somewhat and though he retains a certain

Now 60, his voice has hollowed out somewhat, and though he retains a certain menace of the Bela Lugosi variety, the suave side of this aristocratic sadist escapes him. As Toscas go, this was less shocking than, in places, a bit shabby.And this Tosca is definitely going – to Chicago Lyric Opera, in fact, which presumably means they’re 40 years behind Covent Garden. Or is it? Because – and here’s the clever bit – there’s apparently a clause in the contract of sale that means that the Royal Opera can have this production back if they don’t like its replacement Now that’s what I call forward planning.. The tone has got a bit blowsy, and came and went in the last act. With her constant flouncing, petulance and handbag swinging, she made Puccini’s diva into a total pain in the arse.Samuel Ramey is another old hand with Scarpia. The voice has an appealingly lyrical quality, with a brilliant top register, but not always quite enough substance lower down.Maria Guleghina has sung Tosca at Covent Garden before, and with considerably more distinction than she managed here.

He’s an eager if clearly inexperienced actor, with a tendency to get ahead of the conductor’s beat (Christian Badea had to keep a close eye on him all night). There was a new Cavaradossi, the Chinese tenor Yu Qiang Dai, making his debut in the role. This Tosca was new in 1964, when Zeffirelli directed it and Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi took the meatiest roles. There were two casts for this revival, of which I caught the first Unfortunately it wasn’t a very distinguished one. So it is gratifying to record a British song in first, second and third place on this occasion, even if that was kind of inevitable in the circumstances.At Covent Garden a fond farewell is in order to the longest-running production in the Royal Opera’s repertoire.

The piano and voice were imaginatively integrated, and there was a powerful sense of atmosphere. Second prize goes to Edward Cowie for his onomatopoeic owl song Les Hiboux, which was organically alive and witty without ostentatiously trying to be funny.In first place I’d put Will Todd, for Le Pont Mirabeau, with its flowing river Seine accompaniment underpinning a memory of lost love in the vocal line. But both she and pianist Durran are excellent musicians with a strong mutual rapport. They brought the thing off all right.Since these occasions always have something of the sense of a competition about them, let’s get the scorecards out and pick a few winners. In third place I’d put John Casken’s Colloque Sentimental, with its echoes of Debussy, for its overall technical finish. Judith Bingham’s waywardly Gothic La Jeune Morte was certainly striking.There were a few outright failures, the most common fault being the usual tendency to spin things out beyond the interest of the material itself.In a couple of the pieces the vocal writing was awkward, and though Smart’s delicate voice is well suited to French song (at least the more classical variety) she was, not surprisingly, taxed by such a lengthy and demanding programme.