Recommended Recordings
Compiled by Peter Russell
The options here are legion, and there are Butterfly's in all shapes and sizes to suit just about everyone's taste.
Arguably the most famous recording in the current catalogue is the DECCA set released originally in 1974 with Herbert von Karajan leading the mighty Vienna Philharmonic and Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti as his principals. In spite of the beautiful work here by both singers, and sensational orchestral playing, I personally find Karajan's approach maddeningly drawn-out and exaggerated in his choices of tempo and dynamics. But I am in the minority
For more spontaneity, and a more consistent sense that you're listening to an Italian opera, Sir John Barbirolli's classic EMI set of 1965 has a much less good orchestra (the forces of the Rome Opera House), but it has soul. It also has an all-Italian cast of wonderful interpreters: Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi (has there ever been a more seductive-sounding Pinkerton?), and Rolando Panerai.
Scotto's voice is more flatteringly recorded on her second outing as Cio-Cio-San under the more clinical baton of Lorin Maazel for CBS/Columbia in 1978. You can't go seriously wrong with either of her recordings due to her inimitable interpretation of the title character, although Placido Domingo, however fine, is a more generic partner for her here than Bergonzi for EMI, and the rest of the cast is less memorable as well.
Another DECCA recording that has reached legendary status is Renata Tebaldi's 1958 version conducted by Tullio Serafin, also featuring Bergonzi. As gorgeous as many of the sounds she makes are here, and as widely beloved as this set is by many, I personally find that Tebaldi's big, commanding sound is less convincing as Butterfly (or, for that matter, as the frail Mimi in La bohème) than in more heroic or abstract roles.
Many are also partial to two RCA stereo sets made within a few years of each other in Rome, sharing Erich Leinsdorf as conductor. His 1958 recording features two lighter-voiced protagonists in Anna Moffo and Cesare Valletti. The soprano in particular takes advantage of the pastel-hue of her voice to underscore the titular heroine's innocence and vulnerability. At the opposite end of the scale, Leinsdorf's 1962 cast features in Leontyne Price a heroine with a bigger, richer sound and great emotional involvement and sincerity, and, in Richard Tucker, a Pinkerton of ringing tone and sturdy vocalism. Much as I admire both these sets, the liability with both for me is frankly the leadership of Leinsdorf himself, which is unfailingly musical and efficient, but uninvolving and lacking in slancio .
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle made a studio film of Butterfly for London in 1974 that essentially used as its soundtrack the same Karajan recording starring Freni recorded that same year, re-recording all of Pinkerton's scenes so that Placido Domingo could substitute as Pinkerton for Pavarotti in the video version. While my reservations about studio films, lip-synching, and Ponnelle's approach to works of this era have been chronicled elsewhere, I toss them all aside when faced with this film, which I find unbearably touching, stimulating, and still fresh. Freni, in a role she never performed in its entirety in the theater, proves to be a cherishable Butterfly.
The 1995 film of the opera directed by Frédéric Mitterand for Columbia Tri-Star is likewise touching and evocative. Ying Huang is the only Butterfly on film to both look and act perfectly convincing as the child bride, and Richard Troxell is a raffishly louche Pinkerton. The singing isn't so terrific that you'll be tempted to turn off the video component and just listen to them, but the sum adds up to a convincing and satisfying experience.
Note: Concerning these recommendations for audio and video recordings, especially regarding audio recordings, it is critical to bear in mind that recordings go in and out of print constantly. If a recording is described herein as ?currently out of print,? it may again be available within the coming year, so it is always worthwhile to seek things out.
