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Editorial Reviews

While there have been Butterflies more vulnerable -- de Los Angeles -- more emotional -- Freni -- more lacerating -- Tebaldi -- and more imperious -- Callas, there was always something especially endearing about Renata Scotto's "Butterfly." Call it humanity. Scotto's "Butterfly" is not a histrionic heroine but a woman blinded by love doomed by her illusions; in other words, a wholly believable and immensely sympathetic character. Confronted in the end by the reality of her hopeless situation, Scotto's despair is tangibly real -- and deeply affecting. All by itself, Scotto's performance would be worth the price of admission.

But then there's the rest of the cast and especially the conducting. Carlo Bergonzi is a brusque but not heartless Pinkerton; Anna di Stasio is an appealing but not clueless Suzuki; Rolando Panerai is a bluff but not witless Sharpless; and the remainder of the cast is nearly equally fine. Best of all is the conducting. It was not often that John Barbirolli recorded an opera, but the heightened emotions and dramatic intensity of his conducting here are quintessentially of the theater. With the big-hearted playing of the Rome Opera Orchestra and the full-throated singing of the Rome Opera Chorus, the Scotto/Barbirolli deserves to be heard by anyone who loves the work. Classics for Pleasures' reissue of EMI's digitally remastered version of its 1966 stereo original is deep, warm, and full. James Leonard, All Music Guide

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