Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Performer: Luciano Pavarotti, Siegfried Rudolf Frese, Christa Ludwig, Mirella Freni, Hans Helm, Giorgio Stendoro, Michel Sénéchal, Robert Kerns, Wolfgang Schneider, Marius Rintzler, Elke Schary, Martha Heigl, Erna Maria Muhlberger, Eva Maria Hurdes, Wiener Staatsoper
Orchestra: Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: 4787819
Release: 2014
Size: 2.49 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Madama Butterfly
CD 01
01. “… E soffitto e pareti”
02. “Sorride Vostro Onore?”
03. “Dovunque al mondo”
04. “America For Ever”
05. “Ier l’altro il Consolato”
06. “Ecco. Son giunte al sommo del pendio”
07. “Gran ventura”
08. “L’Imperial Commissario”
09. “Vieni, amor mio!”
10. “Ieri son salita tutta sola in segreto alla Missione”
11. “Tutti zitti!”
12. “O Kami! O Kami!”
13. “Cio-cio-san! Cio-cio-san!”
14. “Bimba, bimba, non piangere”
15. “Viene la sera”
16. “Vogliatemi bene”
17. “E Izaghi ed Izanami, Sarundasico e Kami”
18. “Un bel dì vedremo”
CD 02
01. “C’è. Entrate”
02. “Si sa che aprir la parta”
03. “Udiste?”
04. “Ora a noi. Sedete qui.”
05. “Ebbene, che fareste, Madama Butterfly?”
06. “E questo? E questo?”
07. “Che tua madre dovrà prenderti in braccio”
08. “Vespa! Rospo maledetto!”
09. “Una nave da guerra”
10. “Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio”
11. “Or vienmi ad adornar”
12. Coro a bocca chiusa (Humming Chorus)
13. Intermezzo
14. Fischi d’uccelli dal giardino
15. “Già il sole!”
16. “Chi sia?”
17. “Io so che alle pene”
18. “Non ve l’avevo detto?”
19. “Addio fiorito asil”
20. “Suzuki! Suzuki! Dove sei?”
21. “Tu, Suzuki, che sei tanto biona”
22. “Come una mosca prigionera”
23. “Con onor muore chi non può serbar vita con onore”
In every way except one the transfer of Karajan’s radiant Vienna recording for Decca could hardly provide a firmer recommendation. The reservation is one of price – this Karajan is on three discs, not two, at full price. However it does allow each act to be self-contained on a single disc, and for such a performance as this no extravagance is too much. Movingly dramatic as Renata Scotto is on the Barbirolli set, Mirella Freni is even more compelling.
The voice is fresher, firmer and more girlish, with more light and shade at such points as ‘Un bel dì’, and there’s an element of vulnerability that intensifies the communication. In that, one imagines Karajan played a big part, just as he must have done in presenting Pavarotti – not quite the super-star he is today but already with a will of his own in the recording studio – as a Pinkerton of exceptional subtlety, not just a roistering cad but in his way an endearing figure in the First Act.
Significantly CD brings out the delicacy of the vocal balances in Act 1 with the voices deliberately distanced for much of the time, making such passages as ‘Vienna la sera’ and ‘Bimba dagli occhi’ the more magical in their delicacy.
Karajan, in that duet and later in the Flower duet of Act 2, draws ravishing playing from the Vienna Philharmonic strings, getting them to imitate the portamento of the singers in an echt-Viennes manner, which is ravishing to the ear.
Christa Ludwig is by far the richest and most compelling of Suzukis.