Cheap Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Music) (Giacomo Puccini, Rouslan Raichev, Lyubomir Bodourov, Stoil Georgiev, Stefka Mineva, Angel Petkov, Alberto Rinaldi, Nikolai Stoilov, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Lidia Gocheva) Price

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Customer Reviews of Puccini: Madama Butterfly

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This inexpensive recording of Puccini's masterpiece has many flaws and few merits. First, the merits. It is recorded in digital sound, a big plus. Giacomo Aragall makes a good Pinkerton. I often find him sincere, but absent-minded. His Gennaro in "Lucrezia Borgia" and Roland in "Esclarmonde" are prime examples. When he recorded those two operas with Joan Sutherland, his voice had a youthful sheen. On this recording, his voice has hardened. However, it is still a very nice instrument. Pavarotti once remarked to a news reporter that Aragall had the perfect voice, but was scared of performing in front of an audience. Pavarotti also implied that Aragall had a better voice than Domingo had. Anyway, Aragall is certainly better than many tenors we have today, i.e. Roberto Alagna. To be fair, Alagna is a superb exponent of French opera. He should stick to that repertory and avoid the heavy Italian roles that do not suit his voice. The Sharpless, Alberto Rinaldi, is the only Italian in the supporting cast. He is very good. He may be as good as Rolando Panerai in Scotto's first recording of "Madama Butterfly".

Here are the flaws:

Cio-cio San is sung by Anna Tomowa-Sintow. She is not a true spinto. Rather, her instrument is a lirico-spinto, literally a "pushed lyric". Her attempt at characterization is very admirable. However, unlike Scotto, she only is able to portray Butterfly's womanly qualities. The girlish qualities escape her altogether. The biggest problem I have with her is her singing. This was my first time listening to her and I was not pleased. In this recording, her voice suffers terribly from a distinctive wobble on almost all notes, especially high ones. Butterfly's Death Scene should be an exciting and moving climax to the opera. It requires major spinto power a la Tebaldi. However, Tomowa-Sintow wobbles her way through it. The last three words that Butterfly says sound weird coming from Tomowa-Sintow. To hear the most thrilling account of Butterfly's Death Scene, listen to Tebaldi's first studio recording of "Butterfly". Her high notes, while distorted by the recording technology, will blow you away with their awesome power. I expected to hear a decent reading of "Un bel dì" from Tomowa-Sintow. That is what I got. It was neither great nor poor.

The supporting cast was taken mostly by Slavic singers, the notable exception being the aforementioned Sharpless of Alberto Rinaldi. The Goro sounds sleepy. He is not oily enough for my tastes. The Suzuki has a terrible wobble and is utterly forgettable. The best Suzuki on records has to be Fiorenza Cossotto. Beautiful voice and beautiful characterization. The other cast members are adequate.

The conductor sounds inexperienced to these ears. He clearly does not grasp the score's complexities. I often found his conducting hesitant and chancy. Butterfly's Death Scene suffers from a horribly slow tempo. He doesn't embarrass himself, but he could have done much better.

To sum everything up, you get what you pay for. If you can afford the more famous recordings, buy them. This set should only appeal to you if you are on a strict budget.

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A very worthwhile performance
Anna Tomowa-Sintow was the reigning lirico-spinto soprano for several years. This Butterfly finds her in generally good voice, and her characterization is quite credible. In the crucial final act, however, her diction disappears and the high passages, instead of portraying a woman in profound distress at the unfairness of her treatment by her so called "husband", come off as being simply over-wrought. They diminish the sympathy the listener has for the character. Aragall is a tenor that I have seen in several roles, and in many venues, and have, frankly, usually not been much impressed. He is, however, an excellent Pinkerton. The real pleasure in this recording for me is Alberto Rinaldi, the Sharpless. Just listen to the scene between Sharpless and Butterfly as he tries to read Pinkerton's letter to her. You will never, I think, hear a more real and poignant portrayal and exchange between these two characters. It is all the more touching because before and after this scene Tomowa-Sintow is all grand gesture and scenery chewing. This five or ten minutes is worth a whole bunch of more celebrated Butterfly recordings.

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You can't go wrong
I was a little leary of buying a CD that was priced so cheaply. I figured the reproduction would be distorted, and the voices completely unhearable.

I was wrong.

This is a very legitimate recording of Madam Butterfly. Of course it doesn't compare to the more expensive versions of this lovely opera, but it's pretty decent and it's recorded digitally.

If you enjoy this opera for its beauty of composure, the story it tells and the wonderous exchange and climatic ending, then buy this disc.

I finally decided: Hey, it's only $, what can I lose?

My point is: you can't.