One can understand the record companies’ desire to exploit the great popular appeal of the tenor with a distinctively sweet timbre, Andrea Bocelli, but this Tosca set seems misguided. The first serious flaw comes in the recorded balance: the voices so close that in your mind’s eye you can see the singers’ tonsils, while the orchestra is set behind, half a field away.

The great Puccini operas may be wonderful for voices, but for the impact of the drama to be appreciated, when evocative, atmospheric effects play such a vital part, you need the orchestra to sound full-bodied, particularly in Tosca. Zubin Mehta has conducted some fine Puccini recordings, notably the Decca set of Turandot with Sutherland, but this Tosca is limp by comparison, not just because of the balance. The opening of Act 2 has no tension, with the orchestra heard as though through a gauze, and even the confrontation between Tosca and Scarpia at the climax of the act lacks bite.

Admittedly, the booklet does its best to raise expectations with cross-headings introducing each section of the synopsis: ‘On the run’; ‘A friend in need’, ‘The green-eyed monster’ and so on. But that is more likely to put off rather than attract any committed opera-lover. Maybe it is designed just to get newcomers to opera interested, again a questionable decision and one which is patronising to the listener.

Needless to say, Bocelli as Cavaradossi takes top billing rather than Fiorenza Cedolins as Tosca herself. There were signs when Bocelli’s first recital disc appeared that he was conscientiously seeking to learn necessary lessons both in vocal production and in interpretation, but that is far from evident here. Almost always his singing is of the ‘can belto’ school, coarse and loud, and – as recorded – often painfully piercing. Admittedly he manages a cooing half-tone for a moment or two in the middle of ‘E lucevan le stelle’ in Act 3, but that is very much the exception, and his phrasing is consistently square and unimaginative.

In expressiveness and dramatic conviction he is easily outshone by Fiorenza Cedolins as Tosca, but, whether or not the result of the close recording, her vocal production is unpleasantly uneven, becoming unsteady and squally under pressure. The opening of ‘Vissi d’arte’ brings a lovely pianissimo, but all too soon, even there, a heavy vibrato opens up as the volume grows, exaggerated by the balance. Though Carlo Guelfi sings incisively as a virile Scarpia, with clear, fresh tone, he too grows less steady under pressure, and the incidental characters, well enough cast, are made less convincing when balanced so close, as for example the Sacristan at the start. A set simply for unquestioning devotees of Bocelli.