Customer Reviews

Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly - Mirella Freni / José Carreras / Teresa Berganza / Juan Pons / Ambrosian Opera Chorus / Philharmonia Orchestra / Giuseppe Sinopoli

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3 star:		(1)
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I have the equally impressive Karajan recording and only listened to this one to try and get a feeling for Sinopoli's conducting. I was expecting to be disappointed, but I had quite the opposite experience. I am a little confused about the comments about this recording, since I am not familiar with Sinopoli's controversial reputation; this seems as orthodox recording as one could expect (and no where near as heavy handed as Karajan (the only serious rival)). The tempos are very expressive, especially in the first act when there are dramatic and sudden shifts that are handled masterfully. He masters the subtleties quite well, managing to restrain the passion and yet exploding at the right moments, always with a tremendous amount of control. I was blown away by the sheer beauty and total lack of sentimentality. It's definitely a very Italian recording, with a much more restrained and tempered orchestral sound than the Wagner-like Karajan recording. Carreras sounds beautiful, quite a different sound than Pavoratti (on the Karajan). Really both are suited very well for the different conductors, and since both recordings star Freni (odd coincidence? of course not, she's the Puccini soprano of our lifetimes) you can rest assured that the incredibly difficult task of Cio Cio San will be handled. The most glaring advantage over the Karajan recording is the better balance between orchestra and vocalists. Sinopoli's style is very clear and balanced, fairly opaque but very sensitive. Imagine James Levine, but instead of playing every note robotically, playing with the same quality sound in a very passionate and fiery but restrained way. I think it is a very beautiful and sensitive recording; it's also such a perfect effort that many may miss just how astounding it is. I have a hard time believing that this will disappoint anyone, although the price will be a definite limit to less adventurous buyers.

No one could make Puccini's music live as Mirella Freni did. She is superb as Butterfly on this recording. Jose Carreras may have been past the glorious lyric voice of his early days, but his Pinkerton is emotionally wonderful.

There may be strong versions of this opera, but I have never heard one with more emotion.

This is a terrific 1980's recording from Deutsche Grammophone. On stores it is rather pricy but on Amazon you can get it at an affordable price. This Butterfly is the incomparable Mirella Freni, in sumptuous voice, Jose Carreras is a rather fine Pinkerton, Juan Pons is Sharpless and mezzo soprano Teresa Berganza is Susuki, the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by the brilliant and late Giusepppe Sinopoli. I own Mirella Freni's Tosca, also under Sinopoli's baton and also from DG, and I can see why Puccini heroines who are both beautiful but feisty are her specialty, for both her Tosca and Butterfly are nearly in the same level. Mirella Freni surprises me each time I hear her. While she is not a true lyric-spinto or powerfully huge voice, she is sharp and strong and her chest voice is generous, her high register is beautiful. As Butterfly, she encompasses the naivete and romantic nature of the 15 yr old ex-Geisha who falls in love with a self-indulgent and careless American soldier who has no intention of staying married to her. The heartbreak of the finale in which the dishonored Ciao-Ciao San commits Hari Kiri (suicide by sword)is never more powerfully performed than on this disc and in the hands of Mirella Freni it is a moving experience.

As I've only heard this particular recording of the opera, I'm not able to make any comparisons to other recordings that may or may not be better than this one. There might be better versions out there, but I find this one to be more than adequate. Mirella Freni and Jose Carreras sounds wonderful together as they did in "Aida" and "Don Carlo"; their voices blending perfectly and they are capable of creating moments of pure delight. You'd go a long way trying to find someone sweeter sounding than these two singers, especially in the aria at the end of act I (Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia). Butterfly's arias are beautifully sung by Freni who impresses me more and more and I find her voice to be suitable for this kind of repertoire. The final aria of this opera is heart wrenching.

Jose Carreras sings his heart out as the American lieutenant Pinkerton; mostly in the duets with Butterfly where he sounds exceptionally wonderful and sweet voiced. His singing is as captivating as ever even if several critics claim that his voice had lost most of his beauty by this time.(This was recorded in april 1987). As I've said before; no-one can stir emotions like Carreras and I find his voice to be incredibly sweet and honeyed sounding in this recording. I melt like a snowman in the sun when he's singing the duets with Freni.

Juan Pons is a perfect choice for the role of Sharpless; his voice dark and velvety is absolutely beautiful and a pleasure listening to. Teresa Berganza also puts in a good performance as Suzuki. I can't say I cared much for Anthony Laciura's Goro and the prince Yamadori of Mark Curtis. They are both in possession of a voice that I find to be slightly nasal and not particularly enjoyable listening to.

The rest of the supporting cast sounds great and they all contribute in making this Butterfly worthwhile.

This recording is a very intense and beautiful experience. Freni has discussed in interviews how amazed she was at Sinopoli's ability to wring out the emotion and psychological states (he was a trained doctor)of characters. He makes the most of the claustrophobic setting of this work and it is a rather harrowing and heart breaking experience hearing Butterfly inexorably heading towards disaster. Some of the scenes where this has the greatest impact are the letter scene with Sharpless and of course the final scenes.

One cannot deny that Freni sounds very mature but if you are going to let that stop you form enjoying opera you won't get much pleasure (Do we complain about Nilsson's Salome or Sutherland's Violetta?). She portays Butterfly's emotional anguish to perfection and the power and beauty of her tone in the climaxes are extraordinary. She is helped by a superb, rich recording with the voices captured closely, so there is none of the loss of impact as there is on the Manon Lescaut recording.

Carreras was in vocal decline when this recording was made and there is an obvious cut and paste in the tape where they had to patch things together to get a usable version. But I find him in good form here, more preferable than in his recording's of La Forza del Destino or Andrea Chenier from around the same time. What is undeniable is the intensity of his performance. His singing in the love duet makes you understand why Butterfly would wait three years for his return. (Listen for the lines "vieni, vieni" towards the end. Who wouldn't have dropped their kimono?).

Pons and Berganza are perect in their roles. He has the warm, non- threatening tone needed for opera's most ineffectual character (no cooincidence that he is called Sharpless) and Berganza is the perfect foil for an older sounding Butterfly.

Sinopoli creates the tension through attention to detail but also through the use of slow deliberate tempi. Sometimes this is breathtaking and sometimes it can be stifling. So while some scenes are dramatically, immensely successful the overall pacing can wear you down. If you listen to Barbirolli's recording with Scotto or Karajan with Callas you will hear versions that achieve a more balanced dramatic picture through being less interventionist.
I find I listen to this recording in sections, but I treasure it greatly. Buy it, turn it up load (it will knock you over) and wallow to your heart's content.

Sinopoli was a great Puccini conductor, as his celebrated Manon Lescaut shows. It's the best in the catalog, and when he later came to Tosca, he took a mature Freni and Domingo and extracted from them one of the most intense, if not the most, performance I have ever heard. Because of that set's depth of interpretation and searing emotion, one could easily overlook the fraying of Freni's voice, and the bald fact that it was too small for Tosca.

Here, I'm afraid, the magic doesn't work. This is a very slow Butterfly, conducted once again to extract the maximum of intensity. But despite the fact that Freni's voice is superlatively suited to Butterfly (see her classic reading with Karajan and Pavarotti on Decca), there's too much mileage on it. This cio-cio San sounds like an aging diva struggling to wring emotion out of every bar. Carreras is in even worse voice, and his attempts to trumpet his way through Pinkerton's part is close to dreadful, even though he too tries to rise to meet Sinopoli's inspiration.

With all these deficits, I'll skip this set and cherish the Tosca and Manon.

Nothing can surpass this interpretation of Puccini and Sinopoli trumps Karajan, the gold standard for subtlety in Puccini. Sinopoli is pure platinum. The first reviewer here at Amazon articulates the catalogue of reasons for selecting this, IF you can get your hands on it. $50 is not much to possess such rarity.

nice job, Carreras is not my first choice, but he does a nice job. The Sopranos are quite good.