Customer Reviews

Puccini - Madama Butterfly / Karajan, Freni, Domingo, Ludwig

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This supposedly new release from Deutsche Grammophon is actually the same 1974 production previously released under the Decca label in 2001. That older title is still available at Amazon. This is a film version, not a stage production. It was directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and starred some of the finest performers available at the time. The great Herbert von Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna State Opera. It is without question a magnificient performance. Mirella Freni sings the role of Butterfly as few others can match. Placido Domingo is in equally fine form. Christa Ludwig is excellent as Suzuki. And yet the film as a whole doesn't really work. The trouble is that while Ponnelle tries to make this into a movie version of Butterfly, he neither has the resources nor the capability for doing so. The staging looks decidedly cheap, lacklustre and as some have commented, tacky. An effective movie version would benefit from realistic settings, a real house on a hill, with a sparkling Bay beneath. It could have done without some of the sensationalist/ridiculous set directions, like having Domingo jump out through the paper walls of the house, ostensibly for dramatic effect. This production could have worked (indeed would have been a triumphant success) if filmed purely as a stage based opera. However Ponnelle's final choice puts it neither here nor there. We have sets that look like they belong on stage (and not a very good stage at that), yet the performers are made to act as if they were in a movie. We get to see Placido Domingo chewing gum while he contemplates marrying Cio Cio San, presumably to show what a cad he is. And he continues to chew gum even while he's supposed to be singing. While this is still set in 19th century Japan, Domingo is seen to wear an obviously 20th century T-shirt. Domingo can act far better than what is shown here. As for the singing, the performances are all dubbed post-production. Lip synching ranges from poor to laughable. Because this is supposed to be a movie, and not a staged opera, we get the truly unbelieveable sight of these great performers singing without having to open their mouths - as we are supposed to be hearing their thoughts. Again, this could work provided the director is able to convince the audience that they are in a realistic film world. Unfortunately we are never transported into that world, we are all too aware that this is an opera sung on stage, albeit lip-synched.

The original Decca DVD sported a very soft, grainy transfer in fullscreen (pan & scan), littered with dirt specks and film nicks, looking very much like a poor quality VHS tape and this DG reissue looks no different. I can do without the DTS remix. This was recorded in stereo and the original release, in addition to a Dolby 5.0 surround, already had an excellent uncompressed Linear PCM audio track with quality equivalent to that of a good CD.

The original Decca release received mixed reviews. Aurally it is superb, one of the finest Butterflies ever. Visually it is close to a disaster. If you believe opera is only meant to be listened to, then this will be a top choice. If you believe opera should be an experience for both the eyes and ears, then pass this by. Even today, I still play the old Decca DVD, but only to listen to. I leave the TV off.


Note: It's not strictly correct to say that the singers were dubbed post-production. This movie has a curious history. It began as an audio-only studio recording with the exact same cast except that Luciano Pavarotti sang the role of Pinkerton. That recording was made in early 1974 at the Sofiensaal in Vienna. It received critical acclaim. The decision to make a movie using that original recording as a soundtrack came later that year. For the movie, they re-recorded Placido Domingo in the role as Pinkerton and spliced it into the earlier recording of the original cast. So the performers are in fact miming or lip-synching to the pre-recorded music while the film was being shot.

Believe this to be the oldest video/film of this opera of any quality. Both Freni and Domingo were in their 30's and wonderful together. All the costumes and singing excellent. I liked the directing as well. The sets simple and lovely with a flashback beginning which was very different at the time it was made. I have many of videos, film and stage, made in subsequent years and none of them can begin to compare with this version. Freni will make you cry and Domingo is the overweight, if attractive heel that Pinkerton is supposed to be. I've seen it many times in person with many different singers and this video always comes to mind in comparison. Buy this Butterfly and enjoy the wonderful music full of Puccini's sentimentality! This is also a great gift for a newbie.

To my very surprise this DVD is already for sale in the Netherlands where I bought it yesterday, 18th May 2005, whereas it is not yet released in the USA. That said, I already owned the earlier release and had hoped that they would have remastered the film for DVD. Alas, they did not, although they put the sound on DTS 5.0 which I am not yet able to listen to, which is the only difference compared to the DVD I already owned. (I think the sound might be great on DTS, but I do not know for now).

I think the singing on this DVD is superb and impeccable (I am a big fan of Domingo and Frenis pianissimos are the most beautiful you will ever hear). But the film looks as if somebody put it directly from VHS tape unto DVD (which is probably the case if I am to guess) which is a shame, seeing as the price I paid would have suggested that they did some work on it.

Five stars for the singing and three for the quality of the DVD (and shame on all the big companies for daring to sell us this kind of quality), makes for the four stars given.

This DVDis hampered by a distractingly poor, kitchy production. Although, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle was a well liked director, especially during the 1970s when this was filmed, he almost ruins this DVD with outdated and misguided directing and editing. The sets are generally tolerable but the costumes and make-up are unattractive and borderline silly. Worst is the general directing and editing, which culminate at the end of the last act when a t-shirted Domingo jumps through a shoji screen to be freeze-framed in mid-air: a final example of Ponnelle's misguided attempts at drama.

Musically, the cast is superb. Domingo is in strong voice and an ideal Pinkerton, despite being a bit clumsy an actor under Ponnelle's direction. Freni fares much better as an actress, and is overall a lovely Butterfly, despite a few harsh notes. Karajan leads the orchestra wonderfully, rounding out an overall strong and compelling interpretation of Puccini's score.

Ultimately, the poor production leads one to enjoy listening to the DVD more than watching it. As such, until a better DVD of Butterfly is released, it may pay to just stick with audio recordings and forego the visuals which distract from the beauty of these fine musical artists' interpretations of one of opera's greatest scores.

The advent of opera on DVD has been a real boon to neophytes and aficionados of opera alike, as it presents the medium in a way that can only be superseded by a trip to the opera house itself. This Madama Butterfly is a film version of Puccini's beloved opera, and as such it takes certain liberties (obvious lip-synching, and singing when the actors are clearly not singing--the music represents thoughts "in their heads"). While all of this can be somewhat of a distraction, it is the poor acting, especially of Domingo, that hinders my being able to suspend reality while watching this production--in spite of some outstanding singing from Freni, Ludwig AND Domingo. Evidence of poor acting begin early on when the viewer actually witnesses Domingo's Pinkerton CHEWING GUM (!) over a stretch of several minutes--very strange indeed, and HIGHLY annoying. Was this a conscious decision or was it a gross oversight? My guess is the latter, for I find nothing artistic or symbolic in it; but it is such inexcusable distractions that ruin portions of this opera for me. It is as if Domingo is trying too hard to make us loath his character. This is most unfortunate, as Domingo sings AND acts brilliantly in Rosi's film version of Carmen, which he did about a decade after Butterfly. While Freni certainly does not look 15, few Butterflys do, and who cares when they sing so ravishingly as she? Freni gives a beautifully convincing performance, and her scenes are the most thrilling by far. The sets and backgrounds are acceptable although for a flim version, they fail to evoke an intense "Japanese" flavor the way those in Rosi's film version of Carmen do for Andalucía. In conclusion, opera on DVD places more demands on a production: to be truly outstanding, the VISUAL (acting/sets/backgrounds) component must be equal to the singing. This opera film fails in the first department, but is saved by the singing--which one can get on a CD!

Oh puhleeeeeez - Freni's teeth not suitable? Not good enough for what? Is this Miss Japan beauty pageant or what??! I guess most of the reviewers were expecting another level of Oriental exoticism and, when they didn't get any, were subsequently disilliusioned. If that's your first and foremost wish, get the Frederic Mitterand 1995 film with the Chinese soprano (now THAT should get rave reviews, shouldn't it, because she's got the Oriental eyes; and the Tunisian location will easily fool you into thinking that this indeed is Nagasaki). For everyone else, I wholeheartedly recommend the Karajan/Domingo/Freni version. It's got depth. It hasn't got dental perfection. Thankfully.

Mirella Freni has got to be the best soprano ever to have sung Butterfly (it was after hearing her performance in this film that I became an immense fan of hers). Her voice contained unspeakable beauty, and she was incredibly intelligent in coloring and acting with her voice. The lyrical tones she naturally possessed served the role well, plus her acting (both vocally and physically) was just dynamite! It is the combination of the sense of girlishness in her voice (even in the most dramatic moments, which she sang with much fervor...I cry each time hearing those parts) and her acting that makes her the ideal Butterfly. Of the many Butterfly recordings, if you listen to them very closely and analytically, you'll find that only a handful of them are sung with passion and understanding of Butterfly's angst (only one other soprano had been able to move me, although not to the degree Freni has: Scotto). It's too bad that Freni's voice began to become heavier shortly after this film was made (around 1974). Maybe this role was a bit much for her....Domingo was an excellent Pinkerton and his acting was simply the best. One can almost transfer the anger and hatred toward Pinkerton onto Domingo himself (or at least for me it did). Christa Ludwig likewise deserves much applause for her interpretation.

This is one Butterfly that I would recommend to anyone, even to those who aren't familiar with or like the opera. The dramatic moments are so moving! Pardon me, I'm getting choked up just thinking about it....if you're considering which Butterfly to get, regardless of film version, audio recording, or live taped performance, stop pondering and pick up a copy of this amazing film (it's available on DVD too, by the way). Or if you're specifically looking for an audio recording, get Freni's 1974 Decca recording (with Pavarotti and the exact same casting for the other roles).

Perhaps the most authoritative voice (in English at least) The Penguin Guide to Recordings of Classical Music judges Herbert von Karajan "second to none" as an interpreter of Puccini. However with an opera like Madama Butterfly that focuses on one character the lead singer must assume prime importance. Mirella Freni has recorded this opera three times and it is no coincidence that The Penguin Guide crowns her recordings as the three best. "Sweeter of voice than any on record" (their words), Freni effloresces as Butterfly, bringing into bloom her rich bouquet of tonal colors to flush the role to life with compelling urgency while "consistently growing in stature from the young girl to the tragic heroine." In uncharacteristic harmony, The Gramophone agrees that Freni is indeed the finest Butterfly while Fred Plotkin, former director of New York's Metropolitan Opera, in his book, "Opera 101", takes a step further and adorns her "almost unrivaled" in the sphere of Romantic Italian opera.
Following its disastrous opening Puccini withdrew Madama Butterfly from performance and, along with the librettists, set to work on it for three months. The decision to mitigate the villainy of Pinkerton and invest him with some redeeming qualities proved pivotal for without such improvement the dynamic degenerates into melodrama and Butterfly lapses into a silly young woman who closes her eyes to reality and gets crushed by it. Pinkerton--though careless (hence the chewing gum, t-shirt, tossing the Ottoke, the mutinous collar, etc.), irresponsible, and callously ethnocentric--is never consciously evil and the distinction becomes crucial to establishing Butterfly as a tragic heroine. Neither blind nor stupid, she retains a vision of humanity (based on the kind of person she is) that is nobler and finer than what we actually are and this is her hamartia (tragic flaw). Ponelle illuminates this for us by positioning his camera at ground level looking up so she emerges as a towering, heroic figure braced against the sky as she clenches her fists, throws her head back, and sings with passionate puissance, "Tutto questo avverrà, te lo prometto. Tienti la tua paura, io con sicura fede l'aspetto." (All this will happen I promise you. Keep your fears to yourself, I shall await him with unshakeable faith.)
The most enchanting voice ever to record the role of Butterfly, the most august baton of the second half of the twentieth century supported by two of its most beloved legends (Domingo and Ludwig), all captured working in concert to grace us with Puccini's opus magnum--for the true aficionado this is opera paradise. My fellow reviewers besmirch the page with whining over lip-synching, video quality, camera angles, the distension of Domingo's epigastrium, and (of all the inane twaddle) the alignment of Freni's incisors. Excuse me, but what does any of this have to do with music? Silence, ye film critics! This is the ethereal art of opera, not mere cinema.
One caveat: claims to the contrary notwithstanding, the Brazilian release offers no English subtitles.

I completely disagree with some of the reviewers. How easy it is to misunderstand a fine director's intentions!
The story of "Butterfly" is one of the most sordid tragedy in all opera repertoire. Think about it. An innocent 15 year old girl to escape poverty, thru a profit-hungry marriage broker, marries an opportunistic and unscrupulous American sea captain who seduces and abandons her.. She is cursed and abandoned by society, robbed of her child and driven to suicide.
So what do the reviewers want? Pretty Japanese scenery with Fujijama in the background?
The director created a unique film that's atmospheric, surrealistic, colorless to suit this story. The set: a nondescript cottage surrounded by a depressing barren field. Characters are well drawn, even the secondary ones. (eg. the grotesque but frightening Goro or the terrifying Bonzo).
It is unfortunate that the 15 year old Cio-Cio San is played by a much older singer which is illusion destroying, but Mirella Freni is superb, it is HER role.
Musically this set is absolutely without equal,(perhaps the magical Sinopoli comes near,but that's a CD) but I must emphasize the contribution of Karajan, who is the genius behind it all. I never thought he was a Puccini fan, but obviously he has a special feeling for this work. He takes a dramatic view of the score and almost re-discovers the opera. His ear for detail is uncanny, the love-duet is sensuous with soaring melodic lines, the great aria (Un bel di) rarely sounded more dramatic, full of emotion. It just builds and builds! And the 3rd act is so powerful, it will leave you breathless. You won't forget this film easily.

I can't understand all this carping about how rotten Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film is. Okay, this isn't Orson Welles. The film is certainly flawed, with a few cheesy moments, most of which have been mentioned in other reviews(the opening, with Domingo in a T-shirt comically running through a paper wall, the bizarre dream sequence, Goro as a bucktoothed stereotype). These flaws are what prevent me from giving the film a five star rating. But there are also some very beautiful moments, and besides, from an aural standpoint, you aren't going to find a better performance of Madama Butterfly ANYWHERE. Get a grip, folks. To hear Freni and Domingo at their prime singing what is arguably Puccini's greatest score(it is certainly his most beautiful) conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and for under twenty dollars, I would be willing to put up with the singers running around in clown makeup for two-and-a-half hours. The music making on this disc is simply too good not to be recommended just because the filmmaker's ambitions occasionally tax his reach.

For me, a good opera film captures the mood of the music. Butterfly is probably Puccini's most atmospheric, lush, and dreamy score(although La Fanciulla del West is stiff competition), and Ponnelle's film is appropriately dreamlike. Let's use the marvelous love duet that ends the first act as an example. For me, this duet, along with Liu's death scene from Turandot, represents Puccini at the very height of his musical-dramatic brilliance. The music is rapturous and erotic, delaying the crescendo until the moment becomes almost unbearable. Ponnelle paints this music in dreamlike images of ever-increasing passion. Granted, this film was made in 1974, so some of the more trippy moments might seem a little dated, but if you take that into account, the moment is beautifully filmed, haunting and evocative, just like the score. The image perfectly matches the music...isn't that what opera on film is all about? If this were the only example of this perfect union of sound and vision, then I would be less enthusiastic about the film as a whole, but throughout most of Madama Butterfly, Ponnelle manages that lush, languorous tide of images that matches Puccini's flowing music.

Regarding the sound portion, as I said before, you won't hear Butterfly performed better, that is a guarantee. Mirella Freni IS Cio-Cio-San, the innocence, the passion, the self-delusion, the heartbreak. Oh, and she sings the role to perfection, capturing the character's timidity and strength. Butterfly's entrance is probably my favorite musical entrance in all opera, and hearing Freni's singing, quiet at first and from a distance, gradually building as she and her bridal party make their arrival, is a breathtaking moment, outclassing any staged production I have ever seen. A very young Placido Domingo is in prime voice, and is ideally cast as the rake B.F. Pinkerton, initially cavalier to the point of being cruel, later violently regretful(too little, too late). He does look somewhat risible running in slow motion with his arms flailing about in his handlebar mustache, but overall he is a fine romantic lead. Robert Kerns has a strong and compassionate baritone voice, which matches his character's best qualities, the voice of reason, Pinkerton's disregarded conscience. Having Christa Ludwig in the role of Suzuki might be considered luxury casting, since her character is less prominent, but she makes the most of her time onstage as the matronly confidante to Butterfly, she is definitely at her prime vocally at this point in her career. Von Karajan's conducting is also in its prime, not as slow as it sometimes is, or else I didn't notice it because the slowness matches the languid tempo of much of the music. The sound quality is clear and full-bodied enough that hardly any of the notes are obscured.

Forget the negative reviews. If you love Butterfly, give this a chance. There are flaws, but considering the strengths of the performances and of much of the film, those flaws are easily overlooked.