Puccini: Tosca 4K (2001) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX

Benoit Jacquot reinvents the way we view opera in this magnificent production of Puccini's story of Tosca's love for the painter Cavaradossi and the intervention of Scarpia.

Puccini: Tosca 4K (2001) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX Review
Tosca is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of ArtHaus Musik with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. While the 4K UHD viewing experience was relatively enjoyable, it was less of an uptick in quality than I expected. The lack of HDR means the palette is largely the same, albeit arguably better saturated in the color segments. To my eyes, the black and white material looked relatively similar, with the same (intentional, one assumes) blown out highlights that are prevalent in the standard Blu-ray presentation. The similarly intentionally "distressed" looking elements have a somewhat coarser looking grain field from the already coarse looking presentation on the standard Blu-ray. Many midrange and wide shots are fairly soft looking, with decent but never really impressively abundant detail levels. Where the 4K UHD presentation really excels in the many extreme close-ups of the principal trio, where fine detail does pop with more precision than on the Blu-ray version. It doesn't appear that a ton of restoration was done here, so there are still elements like noticeable wobble in the credits.

I've been at this reviewing game for longer than I choose to admit, and I have to say the Blu-ray disc included with this package presented some really odd technical hurdles to climb that may suggest that boutique classical music labels may want to think about various resolution and presentational aspects that may crop up for supposed "region free" releases. The first clue I had that something odd was up was when I popped the Blu-ray into one of my older PS3s. I got a thumbnail of the title, just like usual, but the disc simply would not boot — I only got a black screen (and I tried it on several older PS3s that I still own, which I further tried with a variety of display and/or monitor units just to see if anything would help, which it didn't). Interestingly, the disc booted immediately on my PC drive, though weirdly it was showing an interlaced presentation (and there were clear combing artifacts in the many black and white sequences where, for example, Antonio Pappano is conducting with some fury). Even weirder, the frame rate was showing at 25fps, which made me wonder if somehow this was a 1080/50i presentation. Popping the disc in any of my region free players made it boot immediately (and I ended up taking screenshots with my Region B PS4), and it also played fine in my Samsung 4K UHD player (where my display showed it was a progressive presentation, for what that's worth). All of this is to say that some of you may well experience similar "technical difficulties" when you try to play the standard Blu-ray, depending on what your particular setup is. In terms of video quality, many of the same aspects of the 4K UHD presentation hold true here as well. A lot of the wide shots are pretty soft looking, and things really only pop superbly when close-ups are employed.

Thankfully, there are no similar technical issues with the two sterling audio presentations included on both discs in this set, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. (Some curmudgeons may have wished for an Atmos or DTS:X track on the 4K UHD disc, but what's here is really quite forceful and abundantly energetic and immersive.) From the first punchy brass moments of Tosca's opening, the surround track on both discs is beautifully resonant and impressive, offering clear delineation between lines and also presenting a nicely wide soundstage that really recreates a splendid orchestral ambience throughout the performance. The low end on the 5.1 track is often stupendously impressive, especially when Puccini's orchestration blends low brass and winds with strings. Voices are all rendered cleanly, though there are occasional balance issues that lead to Puccini's overwhelming orchestrations slightly burying solo singers. Fidelity is top notch throughout, and both tracks on both discs offer abundant clarity and problem free listening experiences.

Many people seem to hate the style this film took - blending the black and white behind-the-scenes shots of the actors and actresses recording, along with the casually-dressed orchestra itself - in with the gorgeous sets the actual "production" takes place on, but I myself loved it. It took a completely different aspect on my favorite opera and made it more down-to-earth. However, the grainy outside footage was horrendous, and the only thing I have to complain on about this movie.

Angela Gheorghiu's singing was absolutely top-notch, as was a fantastically evil Scarpia. All the singers played their parts marvelously, and led to a very believable performance "on stage." This is personally my favorite production of Tosca, and with the movie's direction, led to a beautiful behind-the-scenes view of the faces behind the faces that work together to create an opera's production itself! Highly recommended from me.