Giacomo Puccini: MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) - Yasuko Hayashi
Suzuki - Hak-Nam Kim
Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton - Peter Dvorksy
Kate Pinkerton - Anna Caterina Antonacci
Sharpless - Giorgio Zancanaro
Goro - Ernesto Gavazzi
Yamadori - Arturo Testa
Bonzo - Sergio Fontana
Yakuside - Claudio Giombi
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Lorin Maazel, conductor
Director: Keita Asari
Recording Date: 1986
Place of recording: From the Teatro alla Scala
Running Time: 144 min
Picture Format: 4:3
Sound Format: PCM Stereo
Subtitle Languages: IT, D, Fr, GB, Sp
Catalogue No. PAL: 100 110
NTSC
Region All
Giacomo Puccini, the most significant Italian opera composer to follow in the footsteps of Giuseppe Verdi, discovered the foundation for Madam Butterfly in London where he had traveled for the first performance of his Tosca in June 1900. Puccini immediately recognized the moving effect of the tragic single-act drama, and towards the end of the year he decided to use it as the basis for an opera. (The plot of the opera is set “in Nagasaki around 1900”.) A car accident in February 1903 prevented the composer from working for a considerable period; however, he noted the completion of “Butterfly” on 28 December. The first performance at Milan’s Scala nearly two months later (17 February 1904) belongs among operatic history’s great premiere scandals. Puccini withdrew the work, divided its two acts into three, added the tenor aria “Addio fiorito asil”, and abbreviated parts. Performances in Brescia (May 1904), Paris (1906) and Berlin (1907) marked the work’s rise to success, which belongs to a tradition of operas based on exhilarating, exotic, oriental themes. The Scala production of 1986 is characterized by an authentic Far Eastern flair. The Japanese director Keita Asari had at his disposal a decor and costumes team and two exceptional vocalists to perform the main roles from Asia.
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
"La Scala's Butterfly scores with the loveliness of Ichiro Takada's Japanese sets and costumes. Yasuko Hayashi's Butterfly, though lacking vocal and visual subtlety, rises to the challenge of her final scene; Hak-Nam Kim's Suzuki is a beautiful portrayal; an Maazel's conducting is high voltage, yet always suppertive."
Malcolm Hayes, Classic fm
MADAMA BUTTERFLY
"Eine glanzende Auffuhrung... ein Erfolg fur alle Beteiligten, von der Hauptfigur, der Madame Butterfly, bis hin zum Produzenten sowie dem Dirigenten."
La Republica 1986
( ARTHAUS MUSIK )
