BaL 23.03.24 - Puccini: Madame Butterfly

[Pulcinella]

10.30am
Building a Library

Puccini: Madame Butterfly

Puccini's searing tragedy about a young geisha who falls in love with an American naval officer has been a staple in the recording studio for many decades. Nigel Simeone picks his ultimate recommendation to buy, download or stream.

Available recordings (or a selection) to follow.

[Pulcinella]

While Alpie is taking a well-deserved break, I'm launching the next few BaL threads.

As you might imagine, there are many recordings, and it's a real labour of love to produce the detailed lists that Alpie usually does.
I might get around to compiling a list to add in that original post, but with not so much detail (orchestra/conductor/possibly Butterfly and Pinkerton).

In the meantime, though, here's a link to the listings on the Presto site where I'd be getting the information from.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/56190--puccini-madama-butterfly/browse

[gradus]

Excellent, my favourite Puccini opera especially conducted by Barbirolli although I enjoy the Santini recording with Victoria de Los Angeles and the incomparable Bjorling.

[Pulcinella]

It's the Barbirolli here too, but I also have Serafin (with Tebaldi and Bergonzi in the main roles).

[Pulcinella]

Partial discography taken from Wiki.


Audio recordings: cast given in order Cio-Cio San, Pinkerton, Suzuki, Sharpless

1921	Ottavia Giordano, Santo Santonocito, Ginevra Amato, Adolfo Pacini	Carlo Sabajno Teatro alla Scala orchestra and chorus
1929	Rosetta Pampanini, Alessandro Granda, Conchita Velasquez, Gino Vanelli	Lorenzo Molajoli Teatro alla Scala orchestra and chorus
1929-30	Margaret Burke Sheridan, Lionello Cecil, Ida Mannarini, Vittorio Weinberg	Carlo Sabajno Teatro alla Scala orchestra and chorus
1939	Toti Dal Monte, Beniamino Gigli, Vittoria Palombini, Mario Basiola	Oliviero De Fabritiis Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma orchestra and chorus
1948	Eleanor Steber, Jan Peerce, Suzanne Carré, Richard Bonelli	Eugene Ormandy Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and chorus
1949	Eleanor Steber, Richard Tucker, Jean Madeira, Giuseppe Valdengo	Max Rudolf Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus
1951	Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe Campora, Nell Rankin, Giovanni Inghilleri	Alberto Erede Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia orchestra and chorus
1953	Clara Petrella, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Mafalda Masini, Giuseppe Taddei	Angelo Questa RAI National Symphony Orchestra and chorus
1954	Victoria de los Ángeles, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Anna Maria Canali, Tito Gobbi	Gianandrea Gavazzeni Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma orchestra and chorus
1955	Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Lucia Danieli, Mario Borriello	Herbert von Karajan Teatro alla Scala orchestra and chorus
1956	Dorothy Kirsten, Daniele Barioni, Mildred Miller, Clifford Harvuot	Dimitri Mitropoulos Metropolitan Opera orchestra and chorus
1957	Anna Moffo, Cesare Valletti, Rosalind Elias, Renato Cesari	Erich Leinsdorf Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma orchestra and chorus
1958	Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi, Fiorenza Cossotto, Enzo Sordello	Tullio Serafin Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia orchestra and chorus
1959	Victoria de los Ángeles, Jussi Björling, Miriam Pirazzini, Mario Sereni	Gabriele Santini Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma orchestra and chorus
1962	Leontyne Price, Richard Tucker, Rosalind Elias, Philip Maero	Erich Leinsdorf RCA Italiana Orchestra and chorus
1966	Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Anna di Stasio, Rolando Panerai	John Barbirolli Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma orchestra and chorus
1974	Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Christa Ludwig, Robert Kerns	Herbert von Karajan Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna State Opera chorus
1976	Montserrat Caballé, Bernabé Martí, Silvana Mazzieri, Franco Bordoni	Armando Gatto Gran Teatre del Liceu orchestra and chorus
1977	Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, Gillian Knight, Ingvar Wixell	Lorin Maazel Philharmonia Orchestra Ambrosian Opera Chorus
1987	Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Teresa Berganza, Juan Pons	Giuseppe Sinopoli Philharmonia Orchestra Ambrosian Opera Chorus
1991	Miriam Gauci, Yordy Ramiro, Nelly Boschkowá, Georg Tichy	Alexander Rahbari Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Slovak Philharmonic chorus
1997	Svetlana Katchour, Bruce Rankin, Fredrika Brillemburg, Heikki Kilpelainen	Günter Neuhold Bremer Philharmoniker Staatsorchester Bremer Theater chorus (Original 1904 version)
2008	Angela Gheorghiu, Jonas Kaufmann, Enkelejda Shkosa, Fabio Capitanucci	Antonio Pappano Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia orchestra and chorus

[makropulos]

One fascinating set is not listed in that Wiki discography: a 4-CD version which includes the original Milan 1904 version together with variants/revisions from Brescia 1904 and Paris 1906. I'm not going to be discussing it on BAL as it's not a particularly distinguished performance, but for anyone interested in the evolution of the opera it's really intriguing. It's on Vox 47525 conducted by Charles Rosenkranz with Maria Spacagna, Richard Di Renzi, Sharon Graham and Eric Park with the Orchestra and Chorus of Hungarian State Opera.

Another omission is Rudolf Kempe at the ROH with Victoria de Los Angeles et al, on Opus Arte (formerly ROH Heritage ROHS006. That one I will be mentioning.

[Pulcinella]

One fascinating set is not listed in that Wiki discography: a 4-CD version which includes the original Milan 1904 version together with variants/revisions from Brescia 1904 and Paris 1906. I'm not going to be discussing it on BAL as it's not a particularly distinguished performance, but for anyone interested in the evolution of the opera it's really intriguing. It's on Vox 47525 conducted by Charles Rosenkranz with Maria Spacagna, Richard Di Renzi, Sharon Graham and Eric Park with the Orchestra and Chorus of Hungarian State Opera.

Another omission is Rudolf Kempe at the ROH with Victoria de Los Angeles et al, on Opus Arte (formerly ROH Heritage ROHS006. That one I will be mentioning.

Thanks for those pointers.
Looking forward to this edition very much (though it's not my favourite Puccini opera).

[CallMePaul]

It seems a little ironic that Caballé sings the title role opposite her husband as Pinkerton! I have the Barbirolli set but I don't listen to recorded opera very often. Having seen the opera more than once both in the opera house and on TV I can well understand why so many sopranos want to sing it even if they are not physically suited to the role on stage. Apart from the Act1 love duet, however, Pinkerton does not seem a particularly interesting role (and of course he is worse than a love rat) and I am certainly surprised that heavier-voiced tenors such as Domingo and Kaufmann have sung it. There is a surprising amount of luxury casing of Sharpless and Suzuki, which would not happen in the opera house.

I will be out of the country when this is broadcast but may catch it later on Sounds, although I see no reason to change or add to my Barbirolli recording.

[Pulcinella]

It seems a little ironic that Caballé sings the title role opposite her husband as Pinkerton! I have the Barbirolli set but I don't listen to recorded opera very often. Having seen the opera more than once both in the opera house and on TV I can well understand why so many sopranos want to sing it even if they are not physically suited to the role on stage. Apart from the Act1 love duet, however, Pinkerton does not seem a particularly interesting role (and of course he is worse than a love rat) and I am certainly surprised that heavier-voiced tenors such as Domingo and Kaufmann have sung it. There is a surprising amount of luxury casing of Sharpless and Suzuki, which would not happen in the opera house.

I will be out of the country when this is broadcast but may catch it later on Sounds, although I see no reason to change or add to my Barbirolli recording.

Both on the roster at the Licieu, I guess.

It's relatively easy to suspend yet another dimension when simply listening not watching, but I fear that for me Cio-Cio-San needs to be a more youthful voice than many of the listed great (and not only in size) soloists who sing the role in recordings might reveal; she's only a 15-year-old geisha at the start.
I looked to see who premiered the role, and discovered that the first performance was a disaster, and led to several revisions, which I'm sure Nigel will touch on.
In both the world premiere at La Scala on 17 February 1904 (two-act version) and the subsequent three-act revision performed on 28 May 1904 in Brescia, the (different) Butterflies were born in 1872, so perhaps Puccini was not so bothered about verismo in that sense!

[LHC]

It seems a little ironic that Caballé sings the title role opposite her husband as Pinkerton! I have the Barbirolli set but I don't listen to recorded opera very often. Having seen the opera more than once both in the opera house and on TV I can well understand why so many sopranos want to sing it even if they are not physically suited to the role on stage. Apart from the Act1 love duet, however, Pinkerton does not seem a particularly interesting role (and of course he is worse than a love rat) and I am certainly surprised that heavier-voiced tenors such as Domingo and Kaufmann have sung it. There is a surprising amount of luxury casing of Sharpless and Suzuki, which would not happen in the opera house.

I will be out of the country when this is broadcast but may catch it later on Sounds, although I see no reason to change or add to my Barbirolli recording.

According to a (possibly apocryphal) story, Giuseppe di Stefano would only look at his part rather than the whole opera when accepting new parts. On this basis, he always refused offers to sing Pinkerton because he doesn't appear at all in the 2nd Act, and he therefore regarded it as an inferior and secondary role. He was only persuaded to sing it when his Agent told him that, although he doesn't appear himself, the soprano spends the whole of the 2nd Act singing about him.

I have the luxurious Karajan VPO recording with Pavarotti and Freni and the Pappano with Gheorghui on CD as well as the Barbirolli and Santini on LP. I also have the Neuhold recording of the 1904 version on CD.

I also have the Pappano blu-ray with Ermonela Jaho, which I think is preferable to his CD recording.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have Barbirolli 1966 and Karajan 1974. The Karajan has Pavarotti and Freni at their peak, and for me it ranks among the greatest recordings ever made.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Went to see the Madama Butterfly general rehearsal at Covent Garden yesterday . Asmik Grigorian was sensational. One of the best I’ve ever heard live .Yet again the audience booed Pinkerton even though it was very well sung by Joshua Guerrero. This panto habit has crept into opera over the years .l wish people would stop it - these people are artists not pantomime dames . Just try singing one phrase of Dovunque Al Mondo full voice and legato and you’ll appreciate how very difficult it is.
Anyway it’s a superb production and this is a very good revival led by a real star.,

[gradus]

I've never heard booing at Pinkerton but how b****y infantile.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've never heard booing at Pinkerton but how b****y infantile.

There was also booing of Scarpia at another recent general . Needless to say the singer was absolutely superb. It’s getting ridiculous…

[Pulcinella]

There was also booing of Scarpia at another recent general . Needless to say the singer was absolutely superb. It’s getting ridiculous…

One does wonder though if they don't encourage and revel in it, taking it as an indication that they performed their role well.

I'm wondering now if I should boo Nick Shadow when I see ETO's Rake here next month.