English National Opera's recent record of sturdy, reliably revivable productions to maintain the popular core of its repertory has been patchy, to say the least. But the company's new Tosca, with which Catherine Malfitano makes her debut as a director in this country, should last for a healthy number of reincarnations.
It is unlikely to date quickly, either. Both Frank Philip Schlössmann's massive, naturalistic sets and Gideon Davey's unselfconsciously period costumes are entirely traditional – this looks more or less like any number of Toscas might have done over the last half century. There's a detailed, painterly representation of the interior of Sant'Andrea della Valle for the first act, rather spartan accommodation for Scarpia in the Palazzo Farnese in the second, and most striking of all, the forbidding battlements of the Castel Sant'Angelo in the third.
It all exudes authenticity, though not in a dead, photographic way, and Malfitano's approach is straightforward, too. As one of the most admired Toscas of her generation, and a leading dramatic soprano who has worked with directors from Jean-Pierre Ponelle and Luc Bondy to Christopher and David Alden, she must have acquired a working knowledge of a huge range of styles, but her own method turns out to be unapologetically conservative.
The depth of her experience is revealed in the unfussily registered detail, and the carefully composed stage pictures rather than in any big ideas. We could have done with less of the twee choirboys dancing around Jonathan Veira's Sacristan in the first act, but every detail in the narrative is thoughtfully realised – though, like the individual performances on the first night, they became more sharply defined as they went on.
It's those central performances that make this a memorable evening. Even if Anthony Michaels-Moore isn't a natural Scarpia – too nice, not dark enough in tone – he's a confident stage creature, and if Edward Gardner's conducting seemed short on intensity through the first act, he tightened his dramatic grip thereafter.
Julian Gavin's Cavaradossi is a wonderfully heroic figure, youthful on stage and singing with joyful freedom and touching pathos, while Amanda Echalaz's Tosca is very special, compelling to watch, thrilling to hear, and with the power to reach every corner of the Coliseum effortlessly. The production may not linger in the memory, but Gavin, and especially Echalaz, certainly will.
