Customer Reviews

Puccini - Madama Butterfly / Arena, Kabaivanska, Antinori, Arena di Verona [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Dear fellow music lover! I am so happy Amazon is bringing this title to us!

This video is filmed in the Arena di Verona, with the MAGNIFICENT singer and actress Raina Kabaivanska!

This Madama Butterfly has everything you could ask for: Excelent singers (Kabaivanska and Nazzareno Antinori as Pinkerton plus the cast), it is wonderfully directed by Maurizio Arena, and the film is so well done, that you can actually appreciate all the "flavors" of the orquestration, while at the same time, hear very clearly every detail of the what's being sung...

The regie is FANTASTIC! Costumes and sets are impecable, and EVERY movement has a reason for being there... it is SO wonderful (I hope my enthusiasm can inspire you to see it!),

If you are someone who enjoys opera, you will be flabergasted with this version...

If you are into opera, the close ups are so wonderful that, let me tell you, it is like getting your own private lesson from Kabaivanska and Antinori!

This version is by far my favourite of all the Butterfly's that I have seen. Will delight very knowleageable people, opera amateurs, as well as people who know nothing about opera (but this one will "hook them up"! :-)

I do not get tired of watching it... every note, every movement is rich and deeply full of meaning.

Hope you enjoy it (and learn from it) as much as I do!

Ire

In Act I, Pinkerton describes Butterfly as "bewitching with her innocent arts. Delicate and fragile as blown glass, in stature, in bearing she resembles a figure on a painted screen, but, as from her background of glossy lacquer with a sudden movement she frees herself like a butterfly, she flutters and settles with quiet grace . . .."
Critics from Euroope agree those attributes are expressed to perfection by Bulgarian soprano, Raina Kabaivanska. "Incomparable," is the word most often used to describe her interpretation. Far from "unknown," she has been acclaimed for her over 400 performances of this role. For Butterfly and other operas, the beautiful Kabaivanska has been titled, "Queen of opera melodrama."
It is our great loss that the cast filmed in the DVD is unknown in the U.S. We must look to Europe to know that they are all artists of the first magnitude. Mezzo=soprano, Eleanora Jankovic, appears in many operas, and her performance as Suzuki is among her most famous roles. Her voice is as rich and true as is her evident devotion to Cio Cio Can: Butterfly. Lorenzo Saccomani, Sharpless here, has had many years as one of the most sought after baritones in opera. The same is true of tenor Nazzareno Antinari. Do not overlook Maestro Maurizio Arena! He is very sensitive to the musical nuances of Puccini.
Although this tragic heroine is age 15 years in Act I, and no more than 19 years in Act III, the viewer MUST know that Puccini was well aware this role could never be sung by any young girl. If the listener expects to hear a teen singing Butterfly, or that none but Japanese should sing any but the three Caucasian roles, this recording is not for you. If you seek the live performance nearest to perfection, this is your recording.
The lyrical beauty of Madama Butterfly can be misleading. Its melodic flow is stunning. Even the recitatives seem melodic. It is deceptive in that the role of Butterfly is exceedingly difficult. The former Geisha must evolve from an innocent young girl, adoring of her betrothed, Lt. Pinkerton, in the first act, to a stubbornly believing young mother, certain her beloved will return "when the robins finally nest in America." In these acts, Butterfly is pressed to changing emotions as sung in her nearly constant presence on stage.
The third act is the most demanding of all. While the great Kabaivanska is superb in Acts I and II, it is in the third act she accomplishes her own magic. From a deep well of vocal reserve and character portrayal, she leads the audience through the most heart breaking series of realizations. Her first fear is that Pinkerton is dead. We share her fear. But, Pinkerton lives, and we share the enormous relief Butterfly knows. The relief is short lived when she realizes he will not return. There is a brief moment of respite, and suddenly she knows the lady in the garden is Pinkerton's wife. With Butterfly, we believe all is over for her. There is no time for a breath of relief when the final agony seizes Butterfly, and us, and she knows the entire answer: they want to take everything away from her, even her son. There is no vocal relief for the artist. Until the end, and we hear her final aria, "Tu, Tu, Tu, . . . " we must wonder where this artist has kept such a reserve of vocal and emotional power. We are as emotionally spent as Butterfly, and all because of the incomparable performance of Raina Kabaivanska, who becomes, before our very eyes and ears, Cil Cio San, Butterfly.
Technicians marvel at the glorious dynamic ranges of this artist. Lovers of opera marvel at the glorious voice as well as her ability to interpret a role. As one critic from Italy wrote of La Kabaivanska, "One never knows where the sublime singer ends and the great actress begins. They are as one."
G. K. Brown, D.M.A. Prof. of Music (Ret.)

This 1983 Butterfly production of the Italian Radio and Television from Arena Di Verona is excellent. The DVD transfer from the original material is seamless - the video is vivid and clear, the audio (although only 2 channel) is dynamic and balanced. I also listened through my surround sound receiver's 5-channel stereo mode and felt like being in the middle of the Arena.

Now for the real treat: do not believe Amazon's editorial review that there are no opera superstars in this production. On the contrary this recording features the fantastic bulgarian singer Raina Kabaivanska, who is undeniably the best Butterfly performer in recent history and one of the greatest Puccini singers overall. It is a pity that she is not recognized as a diva in the US. But thanks to this wonderful DVD the american opera fans will be able to enjoy her magnificent singing and be emotionally dazzled by her brilliant acting. Her captivating performance in the final scene will leave you mesmerized.

Highly recommended!

Whatever other performances of "Butterfly" you might have in whatever medium they might have been preserved, this performance is simply one that you must have. To a person, the performances are fabulous both in the richness of the voices and in the quality of the characterizations. The venue allows for a large and inventive production, the sets are tastefully lush, the sound is vibrant, and the videography is superb. As has been said in other reviews, it does require a degree of "willing suspension of disbelief" for one to imagine Ms. Kabaivanska as a fifteen year old girl but it doesn't take long for her to charm the viewer so that it is hardly noticed. She truly wins one's heart as the loving, faithful, brave--but tragic--heroine. Again, if you miss having this recording, you will have missed a captivating and memorable experience.

Okay, so although there are a few DVD recordings of butterfly, none of them are all that great. According to me, this one is one of the better picks.

Big kudos to Kabaivanska... she sings and acts a tremendous butterfly. She doesn't quite pull of some of the high notes, especially at the end of butterfly's entrance and the first act duet, but for the most part she sings really well, and she's in character more than any other butterfly I have seen on screen. Un bel di is her best moment.... she's wonderfully emotive and sings her heart out.

Antinori can sing Pinkerton well enough, but his stage presence is wooden, and he keeps looking at the camera nervously which is terribly annoying, especially during the first act duet, when kabaivanska is doing a wonderful job of it. Both suzuki and sharpless are good.

Although this recording cannot even come close to the CD recordings by Scotto/Barbirolli (what a magnificent butterfly she was!!) or Callas/Karajan, I consider it the best we have so far on DVD.

Criticisms about this "Butterfly" are foolisheness.What a marvellous night when all the vocal performers was nothing less than shinning.Antinori,a very diligent singer here,just watching all conductor's markings,at no time losing sight of the character's poetry and spontaneity.His performance is a overpowering one.Saccomani sings an exemplary Sharpless as well.To my personal taste,Jankovic has a stiff voice but was a very proper Suzuki on this Dvd.Raina Kabaivanska!(let me warn you;she's tall,like a basketball player geisha)I was completely fixed on,from her entrance on "Quanto cielo!"(if you have a fine TV,just watch Antinori's drop eyes in this moment),then audience to get enthusiastic about her sweetness and brightness top notes above all female chorus."Bimba dagli occhi" was a touching experience even to me,always suspicious on Puccini's musical indulgences.Act II,one more break in "Scuota quela fronda?",'cause Raina just holds so passionated "He's returned and he loves me!",that people on Verona really go to mad.Besides,she proves herself a great actress on final scene.The only problem about that night was mistakes and tuneless horns,harps,too much noisy percussion,...What about shades,dynamics,...?I would like that players was been a bit more scrupulous all in all.Well...That's alive,anyway.

I just finished viewing and listening to this wonderful production of Butterfly and I can only say that I was swept away. The production values are excellent - that is, the picture quality is high as well as the sound. While I am not all that familiar with Kaibaivanska or Antinori, they are excellent. My only complaint, and it is quite minor, is that the picture's aspect ratio is the normal 4:3 for regular television. Because I have a wide screen TV (16:9 ratio), I would've preferred that format. Do not, however, let that dissuade you from buying this outstanding DVD. Buy it and I doubt very much that you'll regret it.

Permítaseme escribir sobre esta magnífica obra presentada en la Arena de Verona para los amantes de la música de habla castellana. Esta versión es sin lugar a dudas la mejor Butterfly que jamás he visto en versiones tanto en DVD como en Videos. Un solo pequeño detalle me llamó la atención respecto al tenor; a veces quita la vista de donde debe tenerla, en especial en el duo nupcial, parece que mira al director de lado sin girar la cabez; este es un detalle insignificante pues su actuación y canto es impecable. La Butterfly es por otro lado perfecta, muy convincente y de gran calidad tanto vocal como teatral. Recomiento altamente este DVD. El sonido igualmente es excelente, me gustaría saber los detalles técnicos de la Arena en cuanto a micrófonos y demás secretos del oficio.

This 1983 open-air performance is a thoroughly professional, traditionally staged Madama Butterfly likely to please most admirers of this opera. Tenor Nazzareno Antinori is a real surprise - he does some wonderful singing, especially in the third Act. His 'Addio, fiorito asil' is quite something! Beautiful phrasing and a confident, melting expressiveness once he gets warmed up. Kaibaivanska not so much - I don't understand some opera fans' devotedness to this singer. And not only fans, she's a singer greatly respected by her colleagues around the world. I've seen her Tosca and Butterfly. She gets the job done, explicitly at times, but her singing lacks character. Plenty of rubenesque tone, not a lot of color; yet, when she turns it on, the colors she creates with her singing can be captivating. Her singing is inconsistent - one moment quite beautiful, the next pretty boring. There are occasional intonation problems in the top notes. It is hard, however, to fault her Butterfly, at least in this recorded performance, but for a peculiar wooden quality to her singing at times, overtly careful, technically assured, but somewhat colorless. Maurizio Arena's conducting is staid and predictable, but not without merit. The Verona orchestra responds lithely, always conscious of the actors on stage, to Arena's credit. The staging is what we've seen before, middle-of-the-road agreeable but nothing defining. Sound is excellent throughout, thanks I'm sure in large part to Brian Large's expert direction of a film project which never fails to impress with its purposefulness. I agree with the reviews remarking on the excellent closeup shots - the wonders of the video age! Scotto's Butterfly breaks your heart, and Price had tremendous vocal reserves to endow her version with immortality - Raina Kaibaivanska falls short on both counts, but gives a reliable performance overall of a notoriously vocally dangerous role. The physical demands alone of the role caused L. Price to quit it early on. If a truly fine filmed version of Butterfly exists, I havent found it. Still, lovers of Puccini's enduring masterpiece will find some good moments to champion in this DVD version. Tenor Nazzareno Antinori and director Brian Large commit impeccable work and deserve kudos. Subtitles included.

This production is in Verona Italy and seeing the stadium there is really something. The leads are very well sung and acted.