Search - Arturo La Porta, Philip Maero, Giacomo Puccini :: RCA Victor Basic 100, Vol. 64- Puccini: Madame Butterfly (Highlights)

Highlights From The RCA Classic Leontyne Butterfly

01/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is a highlights disc, lifted from the RCA recording of Puccini's Madama Butterfly starring Leontyne Price, Richard Tucker and Rosalind Elias. For curious audiophiles, this serves as a perfect FIRST BUTTERFLY. The sound is phenomenal. During the climaxes, such as the final portion of the first love duet in Act 1, climaxes during Butterfly's arias and especially in the Finale, the music is bursting with bombast and grandeur. The speakers in my home were surrounded by sheer tonal beauty and majestic audial splendor. Maestro Erich Leinsdorf trained his orchestra well and his soprano quite well as it was Leinsdorf that contracted her for RCA. The rest is history. Leontyne would go on to sing for other RCA opera recordings like Aida, Tosca, Trovatore and La Forza Del Destino. As Butterfly, she is supremely dramatic. Some critics snub her Butterfly because they felt she was reduced to melodramatic qualities, and that she could not wholly convince as a frail, love-sick Japanese teenager. Technically it's true. A light-lyric but powerful voice is required to most dramatically satisfy as Ciao-Ciao San. But because the role is so juicy and the opera is so popular in the repertoire of any opera company, all sopranos want to take on the role. Heavy and dramatic sopranos like Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballe and Renata Scotto have portrayed Butterfly. But Leontyne has the right Puccini voice, and lyrico-spinto abilities perfectly capture Butterfly's femininity, sensibility, strength and weaknesses. Her Butterfly is strong, but she is able to sing with sweet pianissimi and dulcet tones, as well as more invective tones. She has a passion that no other soprano before or after gave to Butterfly. Note how lush and sumptuous the Entrance Aria "Ancora Un Paso" is and how intense and electrifying the Un Bel Di, and the aria right before the Flower Duet is. The finale in which she commits hari-kiri is powerfully moving and thunderous. American tenor Richard Tucker sings with loud, brash, American gusto and with elegance and bravado to boot. He is a perfect Pinkerton, careless and cruel but oddly romantic. Listen to the opening aria "Duvunque al mondo" to see what I mean. This same technique is applied with even more expression in "Addio Fiorito Asil" in which Pinkerton learns at last his grave mistake of abandoning Butterfly and marrying an American wife, dishonoring her forever. The rapport between Richard Tucker and Leontyne Price (and conductor Leinsdorf) is truly evident in this magnificent recording. Rosalind Elias is a mature, stately Susuki, singing the role more like a motherly figure. She sings the role better than any other mezzo I know, except perhaps Teresa Berganza. Fans of Leontyne will definately want to own the whole recording available on RCA."